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Pegi & Ben & Me & My Boy

by Pete T

Upsides made the downs easily forgettable.

Along with the show, which was, yes, a wee short (but relentlessy WICKED!), I also was fortunate enough to meet Pegi and Ben. It was a thrill! We were waiting out Jewel in the food area, looked up and saw them casually making their way up the walkway, heading to the seats. Trying not to be a pain, I approached them (there was another woman with them, didn't recognize her) and asked "Are you Pegi?" She stopped and with a wonderful smile said, "Well I don't know, maybe!"

She said the tour was going great and they were all having lots of fun. She seemed completely relaxed, warm, smiling all the while and not at all in a hurry to move along. Told her it was a pleasure, shook hands, and said so long, then raced back to my buddies on cloud nine!

Now, there's been more than a few posts by you Rust ladies lately about Neil's butt and stuff, -- here's equal time for the guys: Pegi is SWEET!! I don't know her age, but she's looking young, fit, and super attractive (sorry, Neil, to wax eloquent on your old lady but, oh, the radiance!)

Later (still before Neil came on) Pegi and Ben were just hangin' in front of the soundboard, completely accessible and receptive to all who passed and recognized them. As we again passed them when returning to our seats, we each shook Ben's hand and said, "how ya doin Bennie!". Looked at the guys at the soundboard but couldn't spot a "young blonde Neil".

At home we have a video taped from Nickelodean that we call "Neil and Ben and the Trains", taped at their ranch with the family for a children's news show. It's very touching and describes Neil's and Ben's joint love affair with model trains, their mega track layout, and the devices that Neil has helped develop that allow disabled folks to operate electronic equipment. My son, who is now four, has watched this, oh, maybe just a million times. And he truly LOVES Crazy Horse although he's really into MB too! When he was an infant, the only way we could settle him down was to prop him up in front of the Harvest Moon video.

So earlier this year when the tour was confirmed and I told him we'd go, he went nuts. When it became obvious that the tour was coming no closer than south of Boston, I stopped mentioning it, knowing he'd never hold up to the marathon. He forgot, the show approached, and I headed off without telling him exactly why I had to go to Boston (major guilt here   :(   ) So it's about the middle of Big Time, I'm totally into the show, and still very elated at meeting Pegi and Ben. I'm thinking about what TRUE American role models this Young family is (no offense, Sir Charles) and then I start feeling how monumental it would have been for me to watch my boy (Wendell) meet Pegi and Ben, after him watching and loving that tape so much.

Before I know it my eyes are all welled up and I'm feeling a crazy mixture of happiness, guilt, admiration, and love... air jamming all the while! That place lasted right on through to the end of Slip Away. Years down the road, my special memory of this show will be that "place". And nobody can ever take that away.

Fins in Line

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