The drought is over!!!!

FINALLY!

Nope, not weather related...it's RICK-RELATED!

I know, even those of you close to me don't get it, but you know by now that doesn't stop me.

RICK is playing in NJ on the 9th...and yes, your truly is going to be perched with Matty's digital camera, right in Row B!

It's really not so much about seeing Rick anymore...I think I've seen him play over 60 times..but it's the escape that those 2 hours give me.

I think about nothing else, not Fragile X Syndrome, not my work, not the laundry, not the grocery shopping...though, the FREAKIN root canal (surgical re-do) I had done on Tuesday that has kept me from eating solids and sleeping since then might get in the way...nothing 27 advil won't help.

I have a good friend who has 4 children and we don't see each other often, but we do talk on the phone a great deal, much more so since Rick returned to General Hospital (GH is her "thing") and I remember when I told her about the *rick thing* many years ago, not only did she NOT laugh (like most of you do) she looked at me and said "I'm so jealous that you have found something you're so passionate about!" I'll never forget it...she doesn't get Rick, but she gets the need to have something, anything that you believe in, can enjoy, and gives you escape from the same old we fall into. This friend's sister has a similar *thing* with a country music star and has patterns that fall very much in line with mine. Funny!

So Rick makes me feel 13, which I was when Jessie's Girl came out in the summer of 1981!

When Rick re-surfaced after a 10 year muscial hiatus, it couldn't have come at a better time. The same month (November '98) I saw Rick for the first time since 1985 was the same month that Matthew was diagnosed with a speech delay and sensory issues. Rick released his first album since 1989 in the Spring of 1999, aptly called "Karma." Without being dramatic, that CD saved me...It's all about healing from anger and sadness, and coming to grips with things they way they are. I think I listened to it daily, as I searched for answers about what was wrong with Matthew. The Fragile X diagnosis in the Fall of 1999 was bearable to me partly because I had Rick's music to take me away any time I needed it to.

I feel a certain amount of gratitude toward Rick...the timing of it all was, well perfect. It remains that way for me today. I will travel as far as reasonable to see him...I have hundreds of great pictures of Rick in concert, I have every CD, I have concerts on CD that some savvy fans figured out how to record, other bootleg items...etc....I guess you could call me a groupie and I'd be ok with that.

So, he's playing in NJ Thursday and I CANNOT wait. I last saw him live in February, and it's been a LONGGGGGG six months. I need a little escape!

This picture was taken early on in my Rick Renaissance...I want to say January 2000? Its old, and I look young! I had so much to say (hard to belive, right?) that I just remember trying to get it all out and finally he hugged laughing!