Andrea Hylen

Today’s Jonas Watch is sponsored by Dramatic Adventure Theatre. www.dramaticadventure.com

 

June 22, 2009

Tonight we are going to the concert in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Then, I am driving ten hours to Aurora, Colorado to get a passport for Hannah so we can continue into Vancouver in a week. I am leading a book discussion and we have two concerts to go to in Vancouver.

I want to share a few things that happened in the last few days. I will write about the concert tomorrow night, after the passport and some sleep.

A few stories to share with you:

Irving, Texas, June 21, 2009

We stayed at a Comfort Inn in a business park for two nights. The staff is very friendly to the hotel dwellers because:

1-they are friendly and
2-many of the people are repeat customers or extended stay customers.

At breakfast, Jimmie, the front desk guy, shared about an event he was going to in the evening with his girlfriend, Brittany. His church has a group called Spokesperson’s (like Toastmaster’s) and tonight was a ballroom dancing event. He was wearing a tuxedo for the first time. One of the hotel customers was a ballroom dancer by profession and spent an evening teaching Jimmie some steps.

Brittany arrived, as we were packing the car to leave. Jimmie in his tux, waiting for his front desk replacement to arrive. Brittany in her beautiful burgundy, long gown. They were adorable. Excited about the event and looking so beautiful in their formal attire, I took their picture with my camera and asked them to e-mail me so I can send it to them.

What an honor to observe this moment in time. The present moment was beautiful and…who knows where this will lead.

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As we were driving from Dallas to Tulsa, a 14-year-old teen told her father, a sports writer for the newspaper Tulsa World, about us. She told him about a mother and daughter who are traveling to 45 venues to see as many concerts as possible. The daughter, Justine was one of the teens around the world who was waiting to see Hannah’s video clips of the concert. The video clips th

Eric wrote to us on Facebook yesterday. at she worked on in the car on the way back to the hotel and stayed up until 5 am to finish editing and uploading. He had the assignment to write a story about the Jonas Brothers concert in Tulsa. Justine and Ashley, a friend, are going to the concert with Eric tonight.

We arranged to meet at the Woodland Hills Mall in Tulsa. And through this arranged meeting, I had the opportunity to watch and listen to my daughter share her thoughts and feelings.

I thought about how this is preparing her for life. Formulating experiences into thought. Meeting people from different states. Sharing the story from her perspective. Meeting people from different cultures- Eric is full blooded Native American.

We met the whole family. Eric’s beautiful wife, his daughter, his son and their precious baby. A snapshot in my mind. I watched as Hannah shook hands with everyone and interacted with the family. I watched as I saw two families connect halfway across the country over a meeting over the Jonas Brothers.

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I was thinking about a story I read in a magazine. Denise Jonas was getting her haircut and Nick Jonas was, I think, six years old. He was singing and entertaining everyone in the shop. One of the customers told Denise that Nick should have an agent. This led to Broadway shows and commercials and writing and performing music in the world.

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Who knows where each of these interactions are leading us? I can imagine Hannah as a reporter, a film director, an actress…But, at the core of all of that is a young woman with a heart who is passionate, caring, determined and hard-working.

I am grateful to be along on this journey. I am watching and listening and singing and dancing.

Enjoy the adventure! Andrea