After 17 Years, Michele Finally Gets to Meet Tim McGraw!

It's taken 17 years, but it's finally happened. Rik promised me all those years ago that the next time Tim McGraw came anywhere near me, he would take me backstage.

The last few years Tim's tour has gotten close to me, but he hasn't been doing meet-and-greets. The closest I was able to get to him was in the box onstage last year at White River Amphitheatre.

So when I heard about his show at the Washington State Fair in Puyallup, I knew my odds of meeting him were slim to none. But that didn't stop me from trying.

I reached out to Tim's record rep. She only had a limited number of meet-and-greets for the venue, but the fact that she had meet-and-greets meant that he was actually meeting with folks! That only fueled my fire to finally get to meet him!

I reached out to our consultant, Becky, who gets treated to everything under the sun when it comes to artists. She called Tim's record rep to try to talk her into squeezing out two passes for me, but it was a no-go. She then mentioned that she couldn't go to the show, so she would be happy to give me her allotted meet-and-greets. She informed Tim's record rep of this and was about 85 percent sure that it was going to happen.

In the back of my mind I was hoping that it happened, but I knew it wasn't 100 percent and didn't want to get my hopes up.

A couple days before the show I had yet to hear back from Becky, so I reached out to her. She thought the show was the following weekend, which made me worry. Could this throw a wrench into meeting Tim?

The following day I received a text message from Becky which read: "You are confirmed for 2 meet-and-greets at will-call under your name Sunday. The meet-and-greet is at 6:45 p.m." I had to read the message a couple of times just make sure that I was reading it correctly. Tears welling up in my eyes, I sent a text message to Rik telling him that Becky confirmed my Tim meet-and-greet!

Still in disbelief I kept my meet-and-greet confirmation a secret just in case it didn't work out.

My Tim McGraw date (my sister-in-law) had no clue what was in store for her. I kept it hush-hush right up until I picked up the meet-and-greets. Once I had those in hand I knew the chances were good that it was finally going to happen, so I told her that not only was she going to see Tim in concert, but that she was about to meet him.

After a "calming of the nerves" adult beverage, we made our way into the grandstand to get in line for the meet-and-greet.

Standing in the meet-and-greet line was surreal. The nerves started to kick in and I was trying to think of what I wanted to say to Tim. I didn't want to make the Sam Hunt mistake and sound totally lame.

They moved the line into the holding area. My nerves started to kick into overdrive. "Think, Michele! Think of what to say to Tim!"

The line inched closer and I could see his outline behind the screen. I was so close!! This was it! Don't blow it!

Finally, it was my turn, and I was standing within inches of the man I had wanted so desperately to meet for 17 years.

Flashing a smile I walked right up to him, shaking his hand while introducing myself and said, "I work at a little radio station about two hours away. I've been trying for 17 years to meet you." Tim laughed and responded with, "Well ... I guess that means I've been doing this way too long." I laughed and said, "Or it means I've been in radio too long."

Then, we stood next to each other for our photo. I said goodbye and that was it. My 10 seconds with Tim McGraw were over in the blink of an eye.