My name is Jenni and I had entered the BieberFever Best Collection contest a few weeks before the Believe Tour came to Portland, Oregon. I didn’t expect to win, but I figured I may as well try since Justin’s motto is Never Say Never. I thought I had enough good stuff in my collection to photograph, and I put a lot of effort into arranging all my Bieber stuff for the picture. I made sure that my entry matched all the guidelines, and sent it to BieberFever with my fingers crossed. I also made sure to tweet them my entry every couple days so that it was always fresh in their minds. While I didn’t consider myself a lucky person, I definitely still had my hopes up. On the Saturday before Justin’s show, I was out late with friends at a restaurant. I had my phone out on the table and I was reading through my Twitter feed about the Believe Tour. One of my favorite accounts (@theycallmejerry) was on a rant about how every belieber should never give up on their dream of meeting Justin, and how every true belieber deserves to. That reminded me..I needed to tweet BieberFever again before they announced a winner the very next day! I hadn’t realized that it was already midnight; it was the next day. I began to tweet “@catchjbfever: Please don’t forg—” And then the email entitled “Re: Best Collection” popped up on my iPhone screen. I tapped to open it. I gasped at the words “Congratulations Jenni!” as I read on to “You’re officially invited to attend the photo meet and greet TOMORROW NIGHT, October 8 th in Portland”. That’s when I started to hyperventilate at my table full of friends, and continuously say ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod. I had actually won. I handed my phone to my friend Ryan so he could understand why I could not breathe properly. He was shocked as well, and passed it around the table to all my guy friends, and I watched all of their faces turn to shock and render them speechless. My boyfriend Philip and my friend Ryan rubbed my back, and tried to help me to breathe. I could not wait to tell my meet & greet guest, Madison! I spent the ENTIRE day before the Portland show changing outfits, planning what I was going to say, and figuring out what to bring. I was a crazy, fangirl mess. In the end, I decided that Justin would just want me to be myself. I stayed up all night making him a really big card explaining what he means to me with pictures on the inside and everything. I also got him two Oregon Ducks snapback hats from The Duck Store in Portland, where I work. (I’m also a big Ducks fan, so to have Justin wear an Oregon Ducks hat is kind of a dream of mine). The meet & greet e-mail said to pick up our wristbands at the ticket box office at 4:00pm, and that the M&G would begin at 4:30. So you can imagine our anger and panic when the lady at Will Call plainly said “I don’t know; I don’t have those.” My friend Madison and I began to get frantic, and started discussing the next step with other beliebers who were also dealing with the very grumpy, unhelpful lady. We mobbed a couple members of the Rose Garden staff who were standing outside, and told them the situation. After a while, a lady at a different window (one who seemed to know what she was doing) formed a line and told everyone where to stand to wait to be taken to the meet & greet. We were relieved. After a while, we were escorted past the lines of fans waiting to enter the arena, and went through one of the locked side doors. We then got in line to meet Justin Bieber. We waited in the meet & greet line for I don’t know how long, (I literally don’t know how long it actually was because I was so anxious that I could not understand time). All I know is that the wait was painful because we did not know how long the line was, what it led to, or what our meet & greet would entail. I still needed to put my gifts in the gift pile, wherever that was. (I had heard that we would not be allowed to give our gifts directly to Justin). As the line kept proceeding forward, we started to hear sudden squeals toward the front of the line. As the line turned a corner, we saw that it was leading to a black curtained-off little booth. I did not realize that he was so close! As we got even closer we kept noticing that a couple of people toward the front kept turning around, looking back, and holding up the number two with their fingers. They kept saying “We need a group of just 2.” Madison and I replied, “We’re a two! We’re a two!” We trotted up toward the front of the line to mesh with a group of four other girls. A member of team Bieber, who I can’t remember because I must have blacked out, told us that this would be our photo group and that we were all going behind the curtain together. I took a deep breath, and stepped up to the curtained door while everyone else readied themselves as well. There was a guy guarding the left side of the curtained opening. “Are these for our man?” asked the guard with a friendly smile as he tilted his head toward the gifts in my hands. “Yes! Will you make sure he reads the card?” I pleaded . My heart was racing and my head was spinning. “We sure will,” he happily replied, as he gingerly took the gifts from my hands and set them next to a couple of other items. I was going to be the first girl to enter the tent. Then the guard looked at me and said, “Alright, you guys are up!” I took another deep breath, whisked the black curtain open and stepped into the tent. This part is all in slow motion: Once inside the tent, I looked to my right and was completely awestruck as I rested my eyes on the most radiant, captivating face I have ever seen. He was smiling at Fredo, as if mid-laugh, and then he turned his face to me, beaming. His big brown eyes brightened at the sight of me. It was as if he already knew me and was happy to see me! Overcome with joy and wonder, I put my hands on my cheeks and tried to understand both his beauty and his feelings of happiness upon our arrival. “Hey, guys!” Justin said as the other girls trailed in behind me. He was smiling from ear to ear with those brilliantly white teeth. And his skin was glowing, I tell you. He gave me butterflies. I could not for the life of me understand how he could possibly look so much better in person, because I already thought he looked perfect in photos and video. “Justin! How are you!?” I exclaimed as I walked into to his open arms. “I am so good!” he said casually. And then we hugged a warm, tight, arms-all-the-way-around-each-other hug. I could have died there. He smelled so clean, and his embrace felt so relaxed and familiar. Justin has this really weird way of making all your anxieties and nerves go away. He was just so comfortable being himself, and that made me want to be more of myself. I’ve never felt such an intense and yet calming vibe from anyone before. He hugged my friend Madison as she greeted him and called him “Biebs.” He hugged and greeted the rest of the girls in our group. I cozied right up to his left side for the picture, and wrapped my arm around his slender waist as he put his arm around me. The person taking the picture prompted us with a ‘Ready, 1, 2, 3, smile,’ and snapped the picture. I was sure the picture was going to be terrible of me because I felt so awkward and in a dream-like state. From what I remember, the Team Bieber members in the booth started to say things like “Alright,” “Thanks guys,” and “Have fun”, which they intended to keep the line moving. The other girls started toward the tent exit. Knowing that time was running out, I quickly turned to Justin and said “Justin, how are you liking Portland?” “I love Portland!” Justin said in his boyish, velvety voice as he looked into my eyes. “What did you do yesterday?” I inquired. I wanted to know how he spent his day off in my city! Justin went deadpan, but I saw a flicker of a smile on the corner of his mouth, as he parted his lips and huskily said “I skinny dipped.” After saying the words he immediately smiled his evil prankster smile. I’m sure that my eyes must have lit up as I giggled and called out “No way!” while exiting the tent. He is SUCH a tease. Madison and I basically fell apart after leaving that little curtained booth. We gasped for air, stumbled up some steps and somehow made our way outside where there were about 20 other girls going through the same thing we were. We all shared sentiments and cried together about how wonderful he was to meet. After that mind-blowing experience, it was pretty incredible that we hadn’t even seen the concert yet. Obviously, the show was spectacular and an altogether religious experience. October 8 th may have been the best day of my life. I didn’t want it to end. I always had a slight fear that if I met him I might be disappointed, or that he might not like me, or that he wouldn’t be into it. But it was clear that he was so genuinely happy to meet his fans and to make the experience as satisfying as he could in such a short amount of time. I thought I was a die-hard belieber before meeting him, but now I believe even more. He has inspired me to be myself, not care what anyone thinks, and to work hard for things you want even if they seem unlikely. I totally believe that I am going to meet him again, and I can’t wait. -Jenni (@TheJenniMoore) Follow this link: My name is Jenni and I had entered the BieberFever Best…
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My name is Jenni and I had entered the BieberFever Best…
