Extreme anticipation, Extreme emotion
So what was it like to be one of the 10,000 spectators who stood on East Robinson Avenue in Fresno for more than two hours this afternoon, waiting to catch a glimpse of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” host Ty Pennington, waiting to chant the trademark phrase, “move that bus!” and waiting to observe as Mary Ann Riojas and her family checked out their new home for the first time?
Well, I don’t know exactly what it was like to be a spectator, because I was in the Media area. But I know what it’s like to be five-foot-two in a crowd of many – and it’s not easy. At first, I was allowed to stand in front of the cameramen and all their big cameras, and I had a sweet view of the pumpkin orange home with black shutters, its garden, which is newly landscaped with trees and flowers, and the big bus.
But then I was informed that cameras would take priority over me, so I had to stand on a chair in the VIP area. I thought I had a sweet view from my chair – until people started enthusiastically waving posters (and until I fell off my chair…oops.) So then I sat down on my chair to wait for the big moment, and I would hop up on my chair when it sounded like something exciting was happening. The afternoon went sort of like this:
Around 2 p.m. – “When the limo stops, we don’t stop cheering!” a man says into a megaphone. He wasn’t talking about the limo in which the Riojas family would arrive, he was talking about a decoy limo, a practice limo.
2:30 p.m. – We are told to assume positions, and that the Riojas family will be arriving any minute. They don’t arrive, so I sit down.
3 p.m. – People practice chanting “Move that bus!”
3:10 p.m. – Lots of cheering. I hop onto my chair, only to see Ty Pennington running along the road and slapping hands with spectators. I sit back down.
3:20 p.m. – “What do you say we bring Mary Ann home?!” megaphone man says. I hop onto my chair, and then sit down.
3:40 p.m. – More cheering. But it’s because paramedics are taking someone away on a stretcher.
3:50 p.m. – The Riojas’ white limo finally rolls up. Ty Pennington opens the door for the family, and hugs the children and their mother as they get out of the car.
So how did the family react when the bus moved and they finally saw their new home? Like many spectators, I was too far away to see every facial expression, or to hear their gasps of delight, but their body language said everything. The Riojas daughters covered their mouths in disbelief, and then covered their eyes, as if they could not believe what they were seeing. As the family posed for pictures with the builders, the teenage girls wiped tears from their eyes.
Even being so far away from the action, and even though my view of the family was often blocked by a tall person, a camera or a waving sign – I was moved. And I’m sure most of the other spectators were, too. We had waited hours to see a scene that lasted about 10 minutes but, in the end, it was worth it.
| So what was it like to be one of the 10,000 spectators who stood on East Robinson Avenue in Fresno for more than two hours this afternoon, waiting to catch a glimpse of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” host Ty Pennington, waiting to chant the trademark phrase, “move that bus!” and waiting to observe as Mary Ann Riojas and her family checked out their new home for the first time?
