Two Seconds

When I opened one of my many email accounts last week, I was too lazy to take two seconds to open a message I had received from RedSox.com. I thought it was just another blurb about the state of the team and never gave any thought to the idea that it could contain potentially dream-fulfilling information. I didn’t even think twice about the deleted message after Izzie told me she had not been randomly selected to participate in the drawing for the opportunity to buy Red Sox-Yankees tickets for the upcoming season. It wasn’t until two days later, during that brief period of time at around 6:53 in the morning when I’m awake enough not to nick my leg while shaving, but sleepy enough to feel that the world isn’t quite real yet, that I remembered she said there was a coupon attached to her email. I’ve been jonesing for a new Sox cap, so I figured I could go back into my recently deleted messages to see if I had a coupon too.

When I got to work, I combed through my AOL account for the message, and there it was... but alas, no coupon. Instead I was congratulated for being selected to participate in that very same drawing for the chance at Sox-Yanks tickets at Fenway. Of course, it also meant five long hours spent staring at my computer in the Red Sox virtual waiting room on Saturday, but I was prepared to sacrifice.

By 11:45 am on Saturday morning, I was ready to go. My computer was on. The special email was open. I was in my newest Sox t-shirt. I was ready... ready to wait, that is. Matt Damon kept me company on Inside The Actor’s Studio for the first hour, so I felt that boded well for me, but my boredom spiked as the day dragged on. My only saving grace was that the sale was supposed to last from 12 to 5 pm, so as bored as I was, I knew it wouldn’t last all day long. But then the bait-and-switch came at 4:45 pm when a new message appeared, saying that they were extending the sale until 11 pm “for your convenience.” Gee, thanks for thinking of me.

Unable to sit still any longer, I took a dinner break and decided that if my chance came while I was out, then it wasn’t meant to be. But when I returned at 7:30, I found my computer in the same place I had left it, with the very same screen I had been staring at. I wasn’t nearly as religious about monitoring it that evening as I had been all day. I decided that it was okay to play Scrabbulous and check my email, that as long as I was careful, I wouldn’t accidentally click out of the waiting room altogether.

At 9:44 pm, I was sitting on my couch with my computer at my side. I figured it was high time I deleted some text messages, so I was fully engrossed in my phone when I happened to glance to my right. I was stunned to see a brand new page that said, “Exclusive Purchasing Something-or-Other.” I panicked. My hands started shaking, and my heart started pounding. I very carefully entered my email address and password, making sure that I didn’t hit one wrong key. I felt like Andie playing the skeleton piano … one bad note and the Goonies are toast. I tried my hardest to read all of the instructions, but my mind was racing. I was afraid to move around the pages too much for fear I’d get the virtual boot, so I clicked on the first Saturday in April. The page quickly changed to a purchase window and I selected my seats. Bleachers. Then onto my credit card info. It was all too easy and unbelievable. It seemed that after waiting ten hours, it took two seconds for me to buy tickets for one of the greatest events during the baseball season. I was speechless. I was stymied. And then I started to cry.

And now it’s back to waiting... 60 days and counting.