I grew up watching reruns of Little House on the Prairie, so it was very exciting to me knowing I was going to meet some of the cast members. Melissa was on the top of my list of people I wanted to meet. I could always identify so much with "Laura" because I, too, have a close relationship with my family and I went to school with some "Nellie Olesons" so I could really sympathize with what she was going through.
I first met Melissa during the festivities at the opening night reception on Friday, July 1. Although everyone aound her wanted to talk to "1/2 Pint" when I greeted her she grabbed my hand in a firm handshake and treated me as if I were the only person around speaking to her. She was very impressed that my mother and I came over 1800 miles to see her! She even commented that she has family in the city I live in.
I was very impressed with her; she was not a disappointment to me at all. Watching Melissa that first evening, one thing that I found touching was that she was very loving and attentive with her and her husband's (Bruce Boxleitner) children.
Coincidently the opening night reception fell on the 14th anniversary of Michael Landon's death. A local artist had painted a portrait of Michael that was being offered in an auction the following evening. Melissa held the portrait while Allison Balson (Nancy Oleson) performed "My Friend" a special song she had composed for Michael. While Allison sang Melissa held tightly onto the portrait and became emotional. You could really tell that she missed him dearly and loved him very much. All of the cast members present had tears in their eyes during the song.
Mom and I saw Melissa again Saturday night at Casino Night. Although we could tell she was tired and there were several other people around her wanting to talk to her, Melissa posed for pictures with my mother and myself and took the time to chat with us again. Whenever anyone approached her she was always very gracious.
During our time in Tombstone we also met Dean Butler, Charlotte Stewart, Pamela Roylance, Allison Balson, Lindsay Greenbush and Alison Arngrim. We were very impressed with them all, they were such wonderful people. Mom and I are both even bigger fans of the show now. We'll DEFINITELY want to attend another reunion in the future!