Oprah Live on maui!

Last week on the way into my studio I heard an announcement on the radio saying Oprah was going to do a live event on Maui called "Live Your Best Life". The radio show hosts, Alakai and Kevon were giving away tickets. They mentioned a website to sign up on, I jotted it down so I could check it out when I got to the studio. The website www.sharecare.com is a heath resource site. I singed up on it but didn't have time to check it out.

A few days later a Village Gallery co-worker and friend of mine strolled into the gift shop while I was working and calmly said she just won 2 tickets to see Oprah! I was so excited for her and asked how she did that and if she needed someone to go with her ( wink wink ). Her husband would be accompanying her and she sent me the link to the article about the show. In the article it said they were giving away tickets to people who singed up on the website I had already signed up on. It said free ticket winners would get an email. I checked my email and sure enough there was a winning notice from the site!

I had to act fast because the code giving me the free ticket was about to expire. Lucky for me the gallery was very slow, giving me the chance to log onto eventbrite website to process my ticket. I made it just in time! I was going to see Oprah!

Monday morning June 26th, I was up bright and early and excited to see Oprah. I wanted to get an early start because I had a feeling the line getting in was going to be huge. The drive to the Maui Arts & Cultural Center is about an hour drive from Lahaina, depending on traffic. I didn't get the half hour lead I wanted but I did leave in time to for the doors to open.....or so I thought.

By the time I decided to take pictures of the lines of cars trying to get into the event I had been in stop and go traffic for half an hour. I was getting pretty nervous and kept reminding myself to relax and be patient as I watched the car clock. Driving past all the people waiting in line as I headed to the parking area, I kept thinking I was going to have a long walk to the back of the line, and by this time I was in need of finding a restroom. I got a place to park way in the back of the parking area, the time on the car clock read 10:30.

Once I reached the back of the line it was moving pretty fast. It really didn't take very long to get into the event. The place was packed! My first mission was to find a restroom, then I could concentrate on finding a place to sit. I found a spot on the grass to the left of the stage. It was a pretty good spot as you can see from the photos above. After sitting there about ten minutes an event volunteer told us some seats just opened up, which I was happy to take advantage of. Now all I had to do is wait along with over 5,000 people for Oprah to come on stage.

There was a couple on stage playing and singing music to help calm the wild beasts. An announcer would come out every so often to assure us Oprah would soon take the stage. There was plenty of cloud cover and a nice breeze to help keep the area comfortable. I was grateful for the cloud cover because I didn't bring any sunscreen and was a bit worried about getting sun burnt.

Finally at long last, the moment in which I've been waiting for, Oprah comes on stage and is greeted with a huge round of applause. I was live streaming on Facebook, hoping to capture the moment. I did two things wrong. First I held my phone in the landscape position which doesn't work for live streaming. The video was sideways the whole time. And the second thing was I thought I was recording at the same time as live streaming. The only way to get the video here in this blog was to get the embed code from Facebook. I only videoed about seven or eight minutes because I was worried I'd run out of battery.

Oprah has long been a hero of mine. Someone I've admired and respected for over twenty years. Seeing her in person and hearing her message was a powerful moment for me. Oprah has a house and an organic farm here on Maui. She lives on Thompson Road, between Kula and Ulupalakua. Here on Maui we call this area "up country". Charlie and I enjoy going to Thompson Road a few times a year to photograph the incredible views and Jackaranda trees. Who knows, maybe one day we'll run into her while she is out walking her dogs.

I'm ending this blog with a quote from her "Your legacy is every life you touch".

Oh, and one last photo. Yep I got sun burnt!