BF is my new BF

It's true. Ben Folds is my new best friend! As some of you may know, I celebrated my 30th birthday yesterday (April 29). I must say, it was the best birthday I have ever had up to this point, and I don't think there will be too many more that can top this one.

Spoiler alert: Ben Folds wished me Happy Birthday:

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So, the evening started off with a great opening act--Ben Lee. I hadn't really heard him before (other than the song "Catch My Disease" from the Dell commercial, but I didn't know that was him singing). Brady and I really liked him. Then, Ben Folds came out and completely rocked the E-burg (Ellensburg--college town). We were pretty lucky. We had general admission tickets, but we were only about eight rows back, so we got some pretty decent pictures. Pictures don't do him justice; only videos can do that--kind of:

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So, here's where it starts getting good. Ben Folds is an excellent performer. He is really interactive with the crowd and great at improvising. Plus, he is a genius on the piano, and his band can keep up. During the course of the night, several people would yell out comments or requests, and he'd oblige. I sat there thinking that the ultimate birthday present would be one of my requests. I pondered yelling "It's my birthday. Play "Don't Change Your Plans," and I told Brady my idea. The next thing I knew, when there was a break in between songs, Brady yells out, "Happy Birthday, Sarah! Sarah with an 'H'!" Ben pretty much stops what he's doing and looks out at the crowd (he can't see me) and says, "Happy Birthday, Sarah." I yell, "Thank you!" and then add, "30 years!" Ben then replies, "You're one year closer to death." He then breaks into a small variation of "Happy Birthday, Sarah" and starts improvising a song. He was actually writing me a song at this point. Oh, I could of punched myself for not getting it on camera sooner. (We only caught the last five seconds. So, when you watch the video, that first musical ditty is the end of my personalized birthday song.) Okay, so I figure that the well-wishes had come to a close and he'd be onto the next song. Well, he was, but he moved onto "Still Fighting It" (a song he wrote for his son). It took me a second to realize that this song is about growing up. By this time, he had already gotten to the part about how "it hurts to grow up," but he added "Sarah" to the end of the line. As soon as we heard that, we turned the camera back on and caught the next part: instead of "Good Morning, son," he sang, "Good Morning, Sarah"! I could NOT believe it. (That's the only part we actually caught on video, and you can hear the band singing it, too.) Okay, so he finishes that song, and I thought for sure that was the end. Nope. He brings out "Zak and Sara." (You can see him mouth this to his band. I think he says: "Let's do 'Zak and Sarah'." I'd like to think he told his band that because it wasn't on the playlist and he was adding it in--for me. Could be wishful thinking though.) I'm so dumb. I turned off the camera for some reason and missed the part when he sang "Sarah-with-an-H was getting bored." The original lyrics are, "Sara-without-an-H." At this point, I just left the camera on, just in case, but he went back to the normal lyrics. Still, he chose to sing a song with the name "Sarah" in it. I managed to combine the small (really choppy) snippets of footage for my future bragging rights. My favorite part is the second time he says "Good Morning, Sarah." He sounds so genuine! My heart drops every time:

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Well, there you have it. My 30th birthday in all its glory. I am still in shock. It's all I have thought about for the past day. Ben Folds made up a song for me--and then personalized two others. Just the fact that he would want to make some one's birthday that special only makes him a million times more amazing than I already knew he was.

Other than my fan-girl experience, the concert was unbelievable. He is so talented the way he tickles those ivories. Ellensburg was his last stop on this tour, so maybe he wanted to end with a bang by putting on an unforgettable show. Can't wait for his new album in September.

By the way, thank you, Brady. You were actually the one who made this birthday rock!