Digging Into the Duggar's PT 1

Hello :) This post is about my experience meeting Jessa Duggar! (Seewald) This happened about a month ago and I also wrote the post awhile ago I just never finished it. So keep in mind that when I say "On Saturday" It was really about 3-4 Saturday's ago ;)

On Saturday, I had the opportunity to do something that I have been waiting for, for YEARS. Yes years. I have been a fan of the Duggar family and watching their show for around 6-8 years. It has always been a dream of mine to meet the family! I cannot even explain to you how much I love them. One of my talents is naming all the kids in birth order in less than 10 seconds (9.78 to be exact) This coming week will be all about the Digging into The Duggar's. :) Hope you'll stick around

There have been a few instances where the family has come through, or even stopped by, Memphis and I totally missed them and I would be so upset cause I lost my chance. When I heard about Jessa, the newest newlywed Duggar, was going to be at the Southern Women's show, I flipped out. I was so excited and I wasn't going to miss my chance to see Jessa and her husband, Ben! I made plans to go to the SWS that day and I cancelled all of my plans so I could spend as much time that was needed to meet Jessa. I planned on going no matter what, even if I didn't have someone to go with me, I was still going to go alone :) 

My best friend, Sara, said that she would go with me and I was so happy! It meant even more when I found out she wasn't a Duggar fan. And by "wasn't a Duggar fan" I mean she knows about them and likes them but she doesn't watch the show or keep up with the family, or know the kids names (which she is getting better at btw.) We planned to just have a girls weekend all together!

Saturday morning, I woke up quite early because I couldn't wait to get this show on the road. We got up and hurried to get ready for our big day. (after hitting the snooze button for an hour and a half, thanks sara.) I was starting to get very nervous because I don't do good with big crowds. I normally get hot and start to have a panic attack. Like at church, concerts, and whenever I would go to the flea market at the Agricenter I have a had a few panic attacks. I told my brain all morning that I was NOT going to have a panic attack today. I was not going to deal with my anxiety so don't even try me. I WAS going to meet Jessa and my brain was NOT going to trick me and start making me anxious because I was not going to give in today. I packed all of my essentials for any type of situation that I could be in. I brought all of my medicine, a pack of peanut butter crackers in case I got hungry and weak, and also a full bottle of water. I was ready to take on the crowd and the mission to meet Jessa and nothing was going to get in my way. Not today.

Of course, last minute, I thought I should probably buy their book so I can have her sign it.... Why I didn't think about this before I don't know. Anyways, on the way to the Argricenter, we stopped by Target because we figured that they would have it. As we walked in Target with confidence of grabbing the book and going, we soon realized they don't carry Growing Up Duggar...... huge let down Target. I was so bummed. So we headed to the Agricenter in hopes that we could still meet her without the book.

Once we got there, we were right on time but the struggle was trying to find where the fashion stage was. And the annoying part was that NO ONE knew where it was. Even the people working there had no idea where she would be at which was very annoying. Finally after walking around about 298375 times, we found her and Ben. The show/interview had already started and it was packed. We tried so hard to weave through people but we couldn't make it very far, and our guilty conscious was telling us to stop :( I couldn't really hear what they were saying which was so disappointing BUT while we were waiting there was a book stand selling copies of their book!! So of course I bought one! 

After the interview, they announced that Ben and Jessa would be sitting under the tent for autographs and pictures. If you had a book you could get an autograph AND a picture, but if you didn't have the book you could get one or the other. Thankfully the book stand was there since Target had let me down!! Of course we made it to the VERY end of the line... there were about 5 people behind us. We waited for about     2 1/2 hours in line. Sara and I took turns on who stood in line while the other one took a break and sat down where the chairs were from the interview. Between her leg cramps and my POTS/Dysautonmia, we were taking turns left and right! One plus though was I just bought the book so I spent most of my time waiting by reading the book and also trying to plan the perfect conversation to have with Jessa. (We will get to that part in a minute........) 


To me, time was going by pretty fast. I was really anxious about meeting her because I have been known to making things awkward. So that's why I (attempted) planned the perfect conversation out in my head. The line that the had marked off was in a zig zag form, when I made it to a certain part of the line, I was where I could see Jessa and Ben perfectly. I was just waiting for her to look up and be like "omg hey Stephanie!" but no... never happened. When I was next in line, again, I was waiting for my turn and where she would look at me and freak out cause she knew me..... it was so weird because I feel like I really know their family on a personal level. 

Leading up to meeting her, I was REALLY freaking out. Also, Ben wore his glasses because he knows they are my favorite hahah (side note) Anyways, I think in the group around me, I was the only huge duggar fan. No one was freaking out as much as I was and it was kinda awkward and embarrassing. I think it was because we were at the end of the line, all the die hard fans were the ones who probably camped out in line hours before. That's where I slacked off that day..... Ok sorry, back to when I was next in line. I was soooooooo excited and nervous.

PSA: I AM AWARE THAT THIS CONVERSATION THAT YOU ARE ABOUT TO READ WAS VERY AWKWARD AND WEIRD. IT WAS NOT ONE OF MY BEST MOMENTS. JUST BARE WITH ME AND LAUGH WITH ME.

As the person ahead of me was making her way out of the tent, Jessa turned to look at me and smiled. (again, hoping for her to recognize me. again, I was let down) I walked over to the table and handed her my book. I just awkwardly stood there over her shoulder as she signed my book. I lost all train of thought and my "perfect" conversation that I had planned. The ONLY words I could get out of my mouth were, "Man I bet you're tired" and she said "actually I'm not that tired!!" (STRIKE 1) then I thought "oh.. this is awkward. How about I make it even more weird." so I proceed to say, "Oh wow that's good. I bet you're hand is really hurting". She said " no thankfully it's easier to write with Sharpie instead of pen because it just glides and writes more easily" (STRIKE 2) then I was like ok steph just shut up while you're ahead. But I didn't listen.. the silence was just too awkward. So again, I opened my mouth... "Do you know how much longer till your wedding episode is on TV?" She said "um I think it is actually in 3 weeks! I haven't seen it yet so I'm pretty excited!" then I said something like "oh wow that's awesome!" a few seconds later I said "Thank ya'll soo much for doing this!!" Btw I said this twice. Then we took a picture, and again I said "thank ya'll sooooo much for doing this!!!" Then I walked out of the tent in embarrassment of the small talk I had just awkwardly made. Hahaha but hey it makes for a great story right ;) I am still over the top about meeting Ben ( ;) ) and Jessa!! It is something that I will hopefully never forget! 

-Steph