The stress of being a One Direction fan.

Saturday morning was a stomach-churningly tense time (for some) in our house. My wife tells it better than I could.

18 years ago I looked down at her little crying face and I promised myself that I would do anything for her.
She opened her new born eyes, stopped crying and I was hooked.........
I never expected that feeling to lead me to the morning of Saturday May 24th 2013.
The clocked ticked, the THREE computers and the phone were primed and ready.
My fingers were stretched and hovering above the keys.
Her little face was looking at me again - full of hope and anticipation.
The clock struck 10am and we were off.
Trembling fingers now, total concentration on our goal.
12 open tabs, 3 different browsers. How could we fail??
The phone was under the chin now, just in case she had to speak to a real person in order to achieve our desire.
Seconds turned into minutes. The unblinking focus on the screens.
The circle of dots going round and around, a short message informing us that the waiting time was 15 minutes. Then 13. 10. Then 12. 12? How could it go up? Then it started to go down again.
Stress levels rising.......
What was Twitter saying??
Out came the tablet.
Now we had a fourth electronic device on the go plus the old fashioned land line!!
All the while the inexorable ticking of the clock was in my head.
What if it did not happen??
What if that precious face crumpled up and cried like it had done 18 years ago????
Knots in MY stomach now!!! Would it happen? Would I be able to make it happen for her??
Minutes seemed like hours now.....
Then tab after tab started reporting failure.......
The quiet sobbing started to my left......
What could I do???? One last tab......one last possibility.........one last hope.
The sobs turned into a sharp intake of breath beside me.
Fingers trembled and shook almost uncontrollably. Numbers typed or maybe mistyped. Blurred vision now......Oh! Please let this work!!!!
The screen changed again.
All hope rested on this screen. No breathing, no blinking to my left!!!!!
Total stillness!!!!
Then at last.........SUCCESS!!
Tears came then. I looked at her little crying face. I knew that I would do anything for her.....including now being the proud - NO!!!- the super proud, stressed-out but amazingly (in my case!) "over the moon" owner of ........TWO General Admission tickets to see ONE DIRECTION in Croke Park......on May 25th 2014!!!!!!

{Photo thanks to Zimbio.com}