a love affair

i have had since grade seven....that's eighteen years.

my ears are still ringing,

my voice is still raspy,

there is still a bass pounding in my chest.

but lets start at the beginning.

it was the summer between grade six and grade seven and we were up at cowichan lake on the island. we were at our friends cabin enjoying a piece of summertime, while music played softly in the background. vinyl records of a band i had never heard of before. todd showed me his whole collection. i was in awe. i was twelve.

when we returned home and before grade seven started i bought my very first tape, ever. i wasn't sure which one to buy, i had not remembered which album i liked the best from the time up at the cabin, but i had to choose one. so i did. zooropa. i played it over and over and over. flipping it from one side to the next. playing it in my walkman as i weeded outside. falling to sleep before the side was over and then hearing the sound of the play button popping up would wake me in alarm...time to flip it over. it was a great album.

over the years my mom and dad would tell me to turn my music down, what were they singing about anyway? and as i grew, i found other bands to listen to, the cranberries, sinead o'connor, ani difranco, jack johnson...but the constant, U2.

having being the lucky recipient of a friend who bought me tickets in grade twelve, i attended their "pop" concert. not the best, but it didn't matter, i was with my four favorite boys. adam, larry, the edge and bono...the world could not get any better than this.

then...

i was at camp with the boy of my dreams. it was a concert night and the band (russ smith) played mysterious ways, with reference to God so to be applicable to bible camp. i was so excited...but what made it even better, this dream boy of mine was beside me and grabbed my hand, put them up and the air and waved them back and forth, back and forth. are you serious, my life could have ended right there and then, i would have been fulfilled. sigh. side note...this boy doesn't remember any of this, but it's true!

so then,

they were coming to vancouver...dude, so excited...but don't have tickets. so sad. julie had VIP tickets, everyone was going, not me. until the afternoon of the day they were playing...yesterday. my dream boy found us tickets, we were going to hold hands during mysterious ways one more time...my heart was racing. for the rest of the day my armpits were sweaty with excitement. and then it hit me. there are 65,000 other fans who feel the same way about them as i do, and they (the boys), don't even know i exist. how is it possible to feel so excited about someone, somebodies, who don't know you? how is it possible that so many other people feel the same way about them that i do?

somehow it doesn't matter. half way through the concert i threw my arms around scott and hugged him tight.

i saw U2 last night,

my love affair continues,

my ears are still ringing,

my voice is still raspy,

there is still a bass pounding in my chest.

thank you scotty for a wonderful night.

there is still a smile on my face.

this is how i documented the night.

section 441, row zz, seat 4.

the very back.

in the parking lot...the start of the adventure on the train, it has been a really long time since we have done anything just the two of us! the stage the back row dude, here we go

the edge larry their first encore was a set of three songs, "one", "amazing grace", and "where the streets have no name"...this was the highlight of the highlight.

are you serious, i have to stop typing, i am getting excited all over again.

thanks scotty.