An Evening with Michelle Obama - May 4 2019

For Christmas last year, I got my mom tickets to the Michelle Obama talk that was happening at the Scotiabank Arena (aka the Air Canada Centre) in May. The tickets were expected to be sold very quickly so I had to register ahead of time and hope that I was one of the lucky individuals selected for early ticket release. Luckily, I was selected so I was ensured to get tickets. I always get so stressed out when buying tickets because the good seats are so hard to settle on before they get snatched up. My mind was so focused on getting great Michelle Obama seats, that I totally forgot that the Shawn Mendes tickets were being released on the same day. I didn’t end up with Shawn Mendes tickets sadly, but I did get my mom those Michelle Obama tickets. I had spoiled my mom this Christmas, as she always does to us, so I said that these tickets would be for Mother’s Day/Birthday. Seeing the previous First Lady of the U.S.A. is not a cheap adventure, so I didn’t feel too bad about combining her presents.

On May 4th, we took the early train to Toronto to meet up with my brother, Logan, and his girlfriend. We had initially had reservations at a Mexican restaurant, but someone pressed the emergency yellow bar on the train so we were delayed and missed our reservations. We ended up eating at a British-style Pub. We sat and chatted; and we even enjoyed some delicious desserts!

The show started at 8, so we headed back over to the Scotiabank Arena just after 7. Security was tight! There was secret service AND Toronto Police with K-9 units. We passed through security and started the climb to find out seats. We were in the upper levels on stage right. Unfortunately, we were JUST high enough for the Hockey Hall of Famers’ banners to block the screens. ALSO, the stage was arranged in a sort of interview style set up with two chairs and a small table. Of course, Michelle Obama sat in the chair with her back facing us the whole time. It would have been nice if they had switched seats halfway through the interview. I beat myself up about these unfortunate scenarios for a bit and even cursed the centre for not notifying the buyers of these obstructions. All the while, my mom was telling me it was okay - always being a mom. I did my best to get over it, but it was still a bummer.

The show started late - around 8:30pm and begun with a 30 minute introductory video before Mrs. Obama was introduced. When Michelle Obama walked out onto the stage, I was, surprisingly, overwhelmed with emotion. I could feel a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes. I’m honestly not sure why I was so emotional, but it happened. Once the previous First Lady came onstage, she spoke for approximately an hour. She was amazing to listen to. Not only is she an inspiration, but she’s also incredibly funny. She spoke about how her eldest daughter has just discovered that, now that she no longer lives in the White House, she has to dust her own apartment and how foreign that whole experience/concept is. She also spoke about how teenagers like to think they know everything and how difficult that can be for a mother that knows that her teenage daughters know absolutely nothing. She was so well-spoken that you couldn’t help but get pulled into the conversation with her and grasp onto everything she said.

After her talk, everyone filed out and piled into the GO Station. We had JUST missed the train, so we all had to wait an hour for the next one. There were two trains leaving in the hour, just 10 minutes apart, so I recommended that we wait for the second train. It was a brilliant decision because once the first train arrived, EVERYONE pushed forward up the stairs to get onto the earlier train.

Once our, less busy, train had been given a platform, my mom and I headed upstairs. Just as we got up the stairs, they made an overhead announcement that the platforms had been changed due to a medical emergency on the arriving train. Our new train was already stationed at that platform.

If you’ve been following my blogs for a while, then you know that I have quite the history with eventful train rides (refer to my Shawn Mendes blog post from last year)

Mom and I rushed down the stairs and up towards the new platform. A little bit of excitement to end our evening. We finally got onto the train, with significantly less people than I imagined were on the previous train, and headed home. It was a great evening that I will truly never forget and I’m glad that I got to experience it with my mom.