From Sweden with love

Here’s another “meeting Madonna” experience by our friend Gosia from our community forums.

“Greetings from Sweden!
I just came back from London last night and after waking up in my bed this morning, I wasn’t sure if its all been just an amazing dream! I feel such happiness when I think about all 250 of us sharing a wonderful experience that Thursday afternoon… wow, 11th of November will always be a special day to remember. So lovely to see all the familiar faces, meet my old friends and talking to new buddies in the queue I got a bit separated from you guys as I foolishly insisted on going already at 3 am, just to be on the safe side, freezing my a** off and naturally not getting any sleep, but ending up being no.20 in the queue Afterwards I was in a state of shock, so then my talking didnt make any sense, therefore I would like to tell my story.

I took my flight early on Wednesday morning and was exited to visit London once again, as I’m in love with this city. Went to Selfridges to check out that everything was as scheduled and found out the queue would be at the back of the building. To my surprise I saw few people already standing in line and thought I shouldnt risk my place by turning up late in the morning, so I decided to return around 4am. Was too nervous and couldnt fell asleep at the hostel, so I got up at 2.30 and prepared myself for a terrible night in the cold… Felt pretty stupid too, when I later realized that people could turn up at 10am and still get their queueticket, but…who knew?
Anyway…for a moment I had doubts I would make it, I was shaking and shivering, thinking Im too old for this kind of camping, but luckily I managed to “borrow” a blanket from a nice guy (ok I might obtained it by force) and could drop off to sleep in the end.

Also the guys in front of me, Mohammed and James, were so funny and made me laugh a lot and helped to endure those long hours. Later I saw Sharon, Tas, Tony, Kimmy, Simon, Rene, Sean, Steve & company not far behind me in the queue, and then Tomasz & his friend (with the tomato soup), Isabel, Rafaela and Jay turned up and it felt like a happy reunion. I was just so sad that a special person and my dear friend couldnt be there with us, James… my heart was broken cos I couldn’t share this day with you. Who else was I supposed to shout “WE WERE HERE” to?! Who else could capture every fun moment with the camcorder?? You were missed by all of us.
So at 1pm it was finally time to get inside, but the waiting continued… I felt more nervous than ever in my life, cos what if I say something stupid and make a fool of myself in front of HER? I so wanted to make a good impression and repeated in my head everything I wanted to say. I was sweating and it felt like my face was on fire (realized then that i hadnt anything to drink for the entire time)

Kept thinking how this 20year old dream of mine will become true here and now, something I never thought Id be lucky enough to experience! Tried to calm down and breathe, but as soon as the lady lifted up the curtain and I saw Madonna sitting behind the desk, looking like a beautiful barbiedoll, I totally lost it… I was overwhelmed with emotions and couldnt stop the tears, so the nice security man handed me a handkerchief, telling me to take a deep breath.

I pulled myself together (thank god) and when I finally FINALLY stood in front of Madonna, this tiny angelical person with amazing big eyes, I had a huuuuge smile on my face.

I said:” Hi, my name is Gosia” and she held out her hand to shake mine (sweatty one) and I continued: “Im from Poland” and she replied: “Really? Many ppl from Eastern Europe here” so I added: “yeah? but I live in Sweden now”, “Oh you do? And you came and spent last night outside? I hope you were wearing your wintercoat” And the dork as I am I heard myself saying: “Yeah I did….uhmm because I love you” “Oh thank you” she answered and I continued to compliment her books “I collect all your books for my future children and have them in Polish, Swedish and English, coz they are so wonderful” then she said “That’s great, thank you, here you have another one” And my time was up.

I said thanks but didn’t turn my back on her when I walked out, as I wanted this moment to last forever and gosh…she kept looking into my eyes all the way, it felt soooo special that she payed attention to me til the security nicely pushed me out.

I’m sure I looked weird when u guys saw me coming out, I was in shock and confused about where I was, where to go next and when Rene stopped me, I saw how emotional he got when I said that she would shake his hand, we both started to cry… Its amazing how many of us couldn’t hold back the tears, Sharon and Kimmy…aw..I cried again cos I saw you crying. Imagine what the customers and staff at Selfridges must have thought after seeing 250 dazzeled people at the same time and place – oh what circus, oh what a show! When it was all over I was sooo exhausted, I hardly could keep up with the rest, as we went to a bar for a drink (Rafaela, where do you get all ur energy from?!) I want to say Hi to the lovely Madonna fan Marinez, had so much fun talking to you – please email me soon! And to my polish friend who thought I was from Holland the whole time LOL – Im waiting for your email as well. And everyone I’ve met, sorry I cant remember all your names, but I rememeber all your happy faces! Cant wait to meet you all again very, very soon!
lots of luv
Gosia