Its 1990 and its a hot summer day in Texas. I lay outside on the sidewalk with my next door neighbor as we watch the clouds and blurt out the most disgusting things we can compare the shapes of the clouds with while we wait for my brother to ride with us to the pool. Next to me is my purple Jam box.(who had one of those?) I alternate between hanging tough and the new step by step. That is how most of my summers were spend as a kid. I remember I was in 4th grade when I first fell in love. These boys stole my heart. They were everything to me. I would go to school and have my jacket completely decked out in NK pins. My favorite of course was my giant one of Jordan. I wore my Donnie shirt the first day of 5th grade.(crazy the stuff you remember!) My room was a different story. I collected every Big Bopper magazine and Teen Beat magazine that had the boys in it. My room was a collage of every picture I could collect. This one was my favorite. I still remember the countless hours staring at this. As I once read, The New kids forced girls into early puberty. I totally get that now.
I drove my mother to madness many days with my countless facts about the New Kids. Back in the day, we didn't have the internet. The only information I could get was through magazines and books, and of the videos I would watch over and over. I was always dying for candid moments; I wanted to see what they were like when they weren't singing. These guys were for me at that age, the first time I ever loved anything. My heart never skipped a beat until them. My heart never broke until them. Just like many other women, they were a lot of first's. So that was my life for a few years. As I got older my music taste started to mature and change, I still loved my New Kids though. I remember sitting in the lunch room in 8th grade looking through the lyric cover for Face the Music and trying to memorize them all. I really loved that album, I loved the hip hop freshness it had brought to the group. As I got older I got more into the punk rock scene, but my love for New kids was still there. In high school I was trying to find myself. I was obsessed with with dead poets/rockstars, spending countless hours in the dark room, and finding my glitch with my writing. But they were there. I would still listen to the old stuff, especially when things were bad and I was feeling lost. They brought me back to a place of comfort. These guys were my home.
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| Dead Poets/Rockstars |
Of course more boy bands came on the scene after the New Kids had paved the path for them. But to me, they just never had their spark like the New Kids gave to me. There was no Joey, or Jordan, Danny, Jon, and of course Donnie! As I got older I continued to follow them when I could find anything out about them. I got the internet when I was 18, and they were the first ones I searched for on AOL..yes..AOL. Finally my beloved Jordan had made it! SOLO! I freaking loved it! Jordan! Jordan! I was older and appreciated him a lot more, and so did my hormones! I also followed some of Joe's stuff as well. But I was a Jordan girl, and always will be.
So lets rewind some and go back to when I was a kid. I never made it to a concert. I was pretty sick as a kid and my parents never really had the extra money. I would beg every time I heard they would be coming to Dallas and one amazing day my mom said, "ok" I can't make any promises but I will try. I was so happy! I immediately phoned my best friend and we made plans then to experience one of the best nights of our lives. Well, it didn't work out the way I wanted. My mother was out of town when that particular concert tickets went on sale, but like an amazing mother she was, she ran down to the closest place to buy tickets, and they had already sold out. I know that phone call for her was one of the hardest she ever had to make to me. Just like any of their other shows, she would listen to the radio for weeks trying to win tickets. When I was 8, I got extremely sick. Daily medications had become apart of my routine. Until I was out of the dark when I hit about 11, my pulmonary doctor was never 100% sure I didn't have cystic fibrosis( which I didn't have). So in attempt to save my life, as my mother says, I was put on a high dose of daily steroids for a few years. I gained 80lbs in 2 years. I had the moon face, and my life was very depressing for being so young. I went from being the cute popular girl at school to be bullied everyday. I can't even explain what that did to me, and even as an adult how that has affected my life. But when I got home, I could cry. I don't think their was a day that went by that I didn't cry. But when it came to New Kids, they were my outlet. Even looking back as an adult, I felt like they were all I had. To them I was beautiful, to them I knew tomorrow would be a better day. That is what THEY did for me. I could come home and cry, and listen to their music and I was no longer the fat girl at school. That was such a hard time in my life, and I really don't know if I had made it through it without them. This world would have not been the same with them not in it, period.
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| Before |
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| 2 years later Ok so last fast forward to my wonderful adult life. These boys came back onto the scene in 2008. HELLS YEAH! I remember being so excited! My boys were officially back! The love for them had never left! I got divorced in 2008 and was officially a single mom, one income, no child support so any extra activities for me usually didn't happen often. I'm a mother, that will always be my top priority.   So as the years have gone by, there was another show, and another show, sighs!!!!! I missed them all. But I still had social media and their music so I could live with that. I entered into the twitter world 4 or 5 years ago. I remember following Jordan and Donnie and I remember I would comment on their stuff but never got a reply or a follow. ( oh well) I soon fell off the twitter wagon and honestly, before now, social media really hasn't been much to me. If it wasn't for family and old friends, I probably even wouldn't be on facebook. I knew about the cruises but was never able to attend one of those either. Let me first explain, I have a great friend named rock, and I am usually fiddling around under there. REALLY. I'm a single mom, I work full time, and a full time student. My life is BUSY, period. That is a reason why I haven't even been on a date in a year, no man can understand my schedule! So after missing concerts, cruises, etc I decided screw this, 2015 will be my year!!! I decided to convince my friend for a cruise, didn't happen. I took my son on his first cruise last year and has been begging to go back again. So no New Kids cruise for me, looks like just a nice relaxing cruise with my son and parents this year. I decided to get back onto twitter again. Somebody had broken into my account and had made all these spam post, had deleted almost all my followers and those I followed. (of course) So I started over. Who do I follow first? Of course, my boys! All I can say is OMG! All these blockheads! You mean I'm not alone in my crazy love for these boys? ( I live under a rock, remember?) 
It has been a completely different world for me to say the least, 90% of the experiences so far have been amazing. I have met new friends, had some great laughs, and have been able to share my love for these boys with others. I will say a small part of it has been not so pleasant. I have been exposed to drama, crap talking, and I guess what some would call jealously. I mean come on! We are all here for a reason, because we love these guys and want to support them the best way we can! I have from a few people I have been in touch with have kind of given off the vibe, well you don't follow them around to their concerts, you don't go on their cruises, you aren't a true fan. WHAT!!!!!!!! Ok, in all seriousness, I have a life. Of course I would love to take off from my life, and follow these boys around, who wouldn't! This is not a luxury for all. This does not mean that I don't love these boys any less, or admire them any less. I have a life, and some things need to be taken care of first before my wants. Well finally I got a break. After 25 years of supporting these guys, it finally happened. I ended up having some extra money at the same time the rumors really started getting serious about another tour. COULD IT BE?? WILL I FINALLY GET MY CHANCE? (I refuse to even talk about me and my rock with the Nick & Knight tour, it will bring you to tears) So I wait patiently for the announcement. F*CK YES! 25 years of wanting something so bad, and it finally is going to come true! Presale day was the worst day ever! I brought my computer to work since ticketmaster decided that my work computer was some kind of spam IP address...REALLY? I counted down with ticketmaster, and there is was! I go into the vip...where the hell is TOP SHELF? HELL NO! I AM GETTING TOP SHELF YOU STUPID TICKETMASTER ASSHOLE! There was no top shelf there, only the other vip's, I was panicking, my fingers were shaking so bad I could hardly type. For the next 3 minutes I became best friends with the refresh button. And finally, one popped up. I grabbed it and put it in my basket and bam! I got it! I got it! I called my mother in tears! I couldn't believe it! Finally! I was going to be able to meet these guys. They would no longer be a figment of my imagination, they would be real! And I will have one of the best seats in the show! My mother told me later that day that after she hung up with me, she cried. She said she was just so happy for me and that I deserved this after so long. So yes, I'm going on 35, fan since 89 and going to experience my first New Kids concert and meeting. I have no idea what I am going to even say to them! When I think about it my stomach goes into knots. I'm already quiet and shy as it is, socially awkward is just a part of who I am, but this is crazy. I'm still just praying I don't pass out, I guess if that doesn't happen, then life is good. <3
Yours Truly, Brooke @brooketx27 |
