Friendship Jovi Style

As I sat Staples last night watching my friends on the floor from my seat in the rafters, I thought about what Bon Jovi and their music has meant to the last 20 years of my life, the same two words kept popping into my head: love and friendship.

When I first heard the band, I was 21 and living on my own for the first time! A friend of mine lent me this new album she just bought and said to put it on when I felt lonely. She said it was a granteed, drug-free high". The album was Slippery When Wet. Since then, I have come to depend on Bon Jovi to lift me when I am down and to be there to celebrate with me when there is reason to. Just like the band is to each other, their music is to me: true friends.

In the past 20 years, I have also come to find that there are no better friends than other Jovi fans. The band has a comraderie with each other that just rubs off on all of us. We are a like a family. We are sometimes dysfunctional but we are as united in our love for each other as our love for the band! We fight and get back together. We suffer the down times together and keep each other informed. We celebrate birthdays, births, weddings, divorces and the all around craziness of life. We share amazing experiences like singing on the radio to win tickets to a club show or traveling together across country to see the band in New Jersey, as my friend Cindy and I did for the last two tours! I have met Canadian and Japanese Jovi friends as well as friends from all across America! We cross cultural backgrounds as well as thousands of miles!

As I look back at the last 20 years on my life, I think back to the friendships that faded and the new ones that formed. I thought back to the jobs lost and the one I have had for the last 7 years. I thought about the times I have moved and the home I have now. The one sole constant in my life is Bon Jovi! Their music and love of their fans is something I hang on to when everything else in my life is chaotic! And I can always depend on the music and the friendship to keep me going!