Even though it happened almost five years ago now, if there's ever an occasion where I need to give a fun fact about myself, I'll be sure to let you know that yes, I've met Justin Bieber.
I love sharing this fact because whether you're a Belieber or not, it's still incredible that I've met possibly the most famous artist of this decade. I often intentionally fail to mention how much my small, 20-second interaction with The Biebs actually meant to me.
I've been a HUGE Belieber since the beginning of middle school. And when I say I was a huge Belieber, I am not joking in the slightest. I was known around school as "the Justin Bieber girl" because I was so in love with him. I spent every second either talking about him or thinking about him. I'm in no way proud of what was once an unhealthy obsession, but it only made what happened to me two years later so much more important to me.
On November 17, 2012, I won tickets and meet and greets for Justin Bieber's concert in Detroit only four days later. To say I was in shock would be an understatement.
The four days leading up to the concert I did not stop crying or shaking just thinking about the fact that I was finally getting the opportunity to meet Justin. I had dreamed about this happening since I was 12 years old and in my mind had planned out exactly how it would go. I was so confident that him and I were meant to be and given that him and Selena had just broken up earlier that same month, I still felt as if I had a chance with him.
Walking into the meet and greet that day, I had such high expectations of how he was going to be and how things were going to go. I had it all planned out: my dad was going to tell him a joke, we would take a hugging picture, I'd hug him again, tell him I love him, and then kiss his cheek before leaving.
And after I had perfectly executed all of that, I still had some small sliver of hope that he would be in love with me and follow me on Twitter. Looking back on it, I see how absolutely unrealistic all of that seems but I had dreamed about this day for so long and I knew that this was possibly the only time that I'd ever be able to meet him.
So, the reality of my meet and greet?
At least I can say that he touched me. Do not get me wrong, I would not trade my meet and greet for anything in the world. I know that Justin doesn't owe me anything. I just wish that I hadn't set my expectations of meeting him so high.
In the meet and greet, my dad did tell Justin the joke, after fighting to get Justin's attention since he was so zoned out. Justin didn't actually laugh, only giggled. I did not get a hugging picture. Instead, I was shoved into the room with four other girls I didn't know and told that we were taking a picture as a group. After the picture, Justin had told us we'd all get to hug him.
Security grabbed me and dragged me out of the room before that happened. In those 20 seconds, I can only say that we made eye contact through my tears and the only words I said were "Oh my God" and "Justin."
Meeting your favorite celebrity usually isn't all that you've dreamt it to be since the first day you became a fan. Unfortunately, for me, it was a day of blacking out from being in complete shock as I quickly realized that I had unrealistic expectations of how the person who meant the entire world to me would treat someone who they didn't know.
To anyone looking forward to someday meeting their favorite celebrity, this was one experience I had. I've had plenty of other experiences meeting some of my other favorite celebrities where I didn't feel like I was let down as I walked away from them. My advice is to not have any expectations walking in so there's no way you could be let down. As much fun as I had for years dreaming about how meeting Justin Bieber would be the best day of my life, I wish I hadn't anticipated it as much as I did so I wouldn't have felt like I left the meet and greet with regrets.
