Long story short: my sister and I are going to Las Vegas to see Donny Osmond in concert after his new show opens in the fall at Harrah’s.

Long story long: I don’t remember ever not knowing who Donny Osmond is. We grew up watching him and his family on different variety shows, and him and Marie on their variety show. My sister had a celebrity crush on Donny, and for what felt like a lot of my (young) life, I thought she was going to marry Donny Osmond. But, he was “older,” and my first crush was Shaun Cassidy.

Fast forward about 20 years, I’m in college, and my then-boyfriend, now-husband and I go to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, starring Donny Osmond, in Chicago. He was amazing! Also, he was the singing voice of Shang in the animated Mulan, and “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” is probably my favorite Disney princess movie song (along with nearly everything in The Princess and the Frog, but I digress). So I’ve always thought it would be fun to go see Donny Osmond in concert when he’s not acting a role.

A few years ago I started following Donny on Facebook, and at some point I became aware that he and Marie had a stage show in Las Vegas. I should note that I’m pushing 50 (next month!), and I’ve never been to Vegas, unless you count the airport, which I don’t. I thought it would be fun to go out with my sister, but then the show ended before I managed to put a plan in place. Then recently Donny announced a solo show, and I decided not to delay.

I work for a hospital system (but am not a medical worker), and this week the first front-line workers received immunizations! Between that and the public discussions of likely reaching herd immunity by mid- to late-summer, I felt comfortable booking a September trip. I reached out to my sister, and she was IN! I bought the tickets and booked a room. We’ll worry about airfare later.

I’m really looking forward to it.