This is the highlight of my 2009. It isn’t very deep or good writing… but it’s totally me. Rewind five years. I’m sitting on my bed, window open (‘cause you can never have too much of that great smoky autumn air). My pillows smell like Love Spell and I’m writing in my diary with my pretty blue night lights twinkling above my head. Hero/Heroine is playing from my old purple boombox – sort of floating through the room along with the chilly outside air.
That same year, I am out in my backyard. The air—this air… it is something to write about all by itself. It’s cool and comfortable and smells wonderful. Like smoke from a bonfire and apple cider. I’m laying flat on my back in the cool grass, admiring the sky. There are so many stars dangling right above my face that I could just grab a handful and blow it away, like fairy dust. Next to me is that big familiar Milwaukee radio, hooked up to three different extension cords so it could play Top of the World, just for me.
Boys Like Girls is amazing.
You could say they’re my childhood boy-band. Everything in my life worth writing about has one of their songs attached to it.
And on Wednesday, November 11, I met the boy who shared my childhood with me, and spilled my heart out onto a piece of paper. Martin Johnson was right there, sitting on stage, after the rest of the band was finished with their show and left. Of course, (trying to be savvy) I had to be smooth, so as I pushed my way past the hysterical fangirls, I kept calm and focused on going forward. I was a little girl on Moonlight Road again. This whole “calm” thing wasn’t working out so well…
But I finally got there. That night, I got a glance from across the room, a hug, and a perfect little signature on the front of my concert ticket. I was probably the only girl in the building who went home and cried. It was the most perfect night ever. God hadn’t overlooked the trivial emotions of one sixteen year-old even in the midst of hundreds of others. I was truly, completely happy.
And wherever Boys Like Girls is playing tonight, I hope Martin Johnson realizes that he knows how to make a little girl feel special.
