It’s spotlight time on the Britney Army!
Today we are featuring our spotlight on Britney Army member,Caleb Ripley, who is sharing his meet and greet story with us. Check out his awesome story on meeting Britney:
Okay, so let me just start off by saying, this was something I had wanted since I was 4. I have been a Britney fan since LITERALLY day 1. I have dreamed of meeting her every day since I was 4 years old, no joke. We weren’t the wealthiest family in the world but that didn’t stop my parents from doing everything they could, and sometimes couldn’t to make me happy. I can’t thank them enough. I didn’t get a chance to see Britney live until I was 15 though, at the Circus tour. I will never forget how amazing it was, despite how terrible my seats were. I honestly broke into tears when she decended from the ceiling, haha.
OKAY MOVING ON… on July 29th, 2015, I turned 21. Cool. I got up, got ready for the day, went and got my nails done and came to my parents house for my big 21st birthday party type thing. Some time had went on and it was time to do the gifts. My dad handed me a HUGE card with Britney all over the front of it. I thought “Oh cool, they bought my Britney tickets.” Because, I KNEW we were going to Vegas in October but my mom had told me that she would pay for the vacation but, if I wanted to see Britney, that was on me, and I had to buy my ticket. It was a cute handmade card with various pictures of B on it. I made fun of my dad that “he figured out the printer.” He wasn’t amused and I got a “open your f**king card.” Hahaha. ANYWAY, I opened the card and it read “Wednesday, October 14th, 2015, Britney Spears invites you to the AXIS at Planet Hollywood for your MEET & GREET…” I was reading out loud up to I think “for” and I got silent and covered my mouth and just screamed “NO YOU FUCKING DIDN’T.” I cried for about 20 minutes, not even kidding. I was a mess. Theres a video of it on my Facebook if anyone wants to see it.
JUMP FORWARD TO WHEN I GOT TO VEGAS – I was the typical Britney fan in Vegas, I had to do everything even close to Britney related. Shocking right? I hadn’t cried about meeting Britney since my birthday, and it had yet to actually hit me that I was going to do it until about 5 minutes before I left my hotel room at PH to go check in. I broke down again, and my mom came to my rescue. She told me, “You can do this, and don’t cry. You know she doesn’t like that. Just be yourself and stay calm, she will love you.” I was fine after that. I went down and checked in at 6:30 and I teared up when the girl handed me my ticket. I shoved it away and got myself together. I went and waited for security to come get us, and I met a few other people from Britney Addicts and got all excited. I met a girl I had recognized from past meet and greets, Marlo, and got pretty close with her for the night. She told me everything I needed to know about how things were gonna go and told me to just stay calm.THE BACKSTAGE TOUR – Security came and got us and we went into the theater, I had never been in with so little people, it was weird. Fe met us in the center and told us about some things, and it began, we walked down onto the stage and I think I stopped right before walking on it, and thought “you are about to walk on Britney’s stage. Are you ready for this?” and proceeded. It was such a surreal experience to stand where she stands and does her show. I saw her scuff marks and just got so happy. We went back behind the curtain and there were a few props out that are used in the show. Fe warned the ladies in heels to be careful of the grates in the ground for the water, and we all laughed. She told us “Someone once asked me if we recycle the water for the Jungle sequence and I told them no. Well.. I did some looking into it and it turns out I LIED.” Again, everyone laughed. We met the man that follows Britney up the tree every night (Jeff?) and he joked that some nights she might not wanna jump so he has to push her (not true, but funny.) Then we went upstairs to Britney’s costume room, and met a few ladies working on costumes. Fe told us she doesn’t take us into Britney’s actual dressing room because she feels like Britney needs a place that’s all her own. I completely understand that. She was telling us about different costumes and held up the original Circus costume from the show and told us why Britney doesn’t wear it anymore, it’s really heavy and doesn’t like to stay closed. And then, I swear to Godney, she said to me “hold out your hand.” I was like a deer in headlights, I was like “What?” and she handed it to me. I was literally standing there hold Britney Spears’s costume. This was actually on her body. I was like, completely dead. Then we went back downstairs and Fe was telling us about the wings Britney rides on during Everytime, and I don’t know why, but I did it, I reached out and touched them. Fe said “Oh, sweetie, please don’t touch those. I am the least technoligical person you will ever meet and I wouldn’t even know where to start to fix them if something went wrong.” I felt terrible, haha. That’s one for the memories, I touched the Everytime wings and got in trouble. Then we got to touch the Me Against The Music walls and took a short break. We went out to a parking lot and got the “rules” from Security. Then it was time…
FAST FORWARD TO THE MEET AND GREET – I was 2nd in line (almost first but, some girls powerwalked past me) and I saw the door open for the girls to go in and I looked in and saw Britney’s sillhouette and saw her hair was up, and in the Britney world, we all know that when her hair is up, SHIT IS ABOUT TO GET REAL. So, I whipped around to the rest of the group and yelled “PONYTAILNEY!” Not sure why, but I did. Then the door opened. It was my turn. I walked up the ramp onto the stage and paused while the girls in front of me were finishing with B. I was waved forward by security and I didn’t move for a second. I walked around the backdrop and there she was… Britney. Britney Jean Spears was standing there and Larry pointed to me and she turned her heard towards me. I couldn’t get anything out of my mouth at first aside from “You are so beautiful.” To which she laughed and said, “Thank you, sweetie.” I said “My name’s Caleb.” To which she replied, “Nice to meet you. I’m Britney.” SHE INTRODUCED HERSELF, I died inside. I stood there and just looked at her and she put her left arm out and said “Would you like to take a picture?” I said, “Yes!” She laughed. She started doing something and I looked at her and said, “Britney, I don’t care how my picture looks, I want you to be comfortable. What would YOU like to do?” She smiled and said, “Well, thank you. Just get close and smile big!” So, that’s what I did. We took our picture and I turned to her and asked if I could give her a hug, her eyes lit up and she said, “OF COURSE.” I hugged her and she said as I backed away from her “I really like your earrings.”I told her “Thank you” and walked away. Just walked away. The second I walked away I said to myself. “SHIT, I forgot to say everything I needed to.” SO, now, I just have to do another meet and greet, haha.
I was front and center of GA Left for the show and the show was AMAZING, and she looked at me so many times. It made my life. It was the first time she unveiled the new performance of Lucky with the swing and she was literally RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME. Anyway, thank you so much to Anthony to posting my story so long after my meet and greet. You’re the best. And thank you to everyone that took the time to read my story.
Awesome story!! Thanks for sharing with us Caleb!
