You Never Get Over Your First Love

     They say you can’t really love two men at the same time but I don’t agree.  I love another man and Mike is ok with it because it happened before I even met Mike. Mike knows the full story and has been able to cope with my feelings for the other man. 

     I fell in love for the first time to a guy named Jon in 1984.  He had 80’s long hair, wore tight pants and loved to sing.  I saw him in person for the first time at the Met Center in the Twin Cities.  The band 38 Special was headlining but I wasn’t there to see them, I was there to see Jon, Jon Bon Jovi.

     Bon Jovi was the love of my life.  I dreamed of singing alongside of him on stage and traveling to the far corners of the earth with him.  Concert after concert, year after year I waited for him to find me and fall in love with me.  I had high hopes even after I started dating Mike.

     Mike and I even went to a Bon Jovi concert together in August of 1989.  I still felt sure Jon would fall in love with me as I listened to his music playing in my Walkman as I ran through Madrid’s Retiro Park. I could hardly believe Bon Jovi was going to be in concert the next night in Madrid and I had tickets to see him again.  It was still 1989 and I was studying abroad on my way back to my hostel after a run.  I came to a crowd on the sidewalk and asked what was happening.  I stopped dead in my tracks when I heard the reply, "Bon Jovi is staying here." 

     Here I was, just a few blocks from where I was living and the love of my life was right there.  I spent that day in front of the hotel and the day turned into night which turned into day again and I finally had to leave so I wouldn’t miss the concert.  I survived the concert crush in a facility that still allowed folks to get as close to the stage as they dared.  As soon as the last note was played I quickly returned to my post at the hotel in hopes of seeing Jon.

     Hours went by as I stood with Spanish Senoritas all waiting for the same thing, my first love.  Finally he returned but was immediately whisked away with the promise from his manager that he would return.  Another hour or so went by when he appeared like an angel in the doorway of the hotel.  For 5 years I had dreamt about what I would say or do if I ever met Bon Jovi. I could have never predicted what happened next.

     I was nose to nose with Jon when I said meekly, "Hi, I’m Sue from Minnesota." That’s how I professed my deep feelings to the love of my life.  I didn’t try to kiss him, didn’t tell him I loved him and couldn’t live without him I just stood there reciting the names of the Spanish Senoritas so he could sign their names on their autographs.  Face to face I stood handing him paper after paper reciting names like, Isabel, Mercedes and Flora.  After he had signed all of the autographs he and his band members hopped back into their vehicle to hit the clubs(4am).  He waved one final wave to me and that was it, Jon was gone and with it my dreams of spending the rest of my life with him.

     I didn’t quit loving him that day.  I even loved him after another important man entered my life in June of 2001.  Josh was born June 7th and on July 9th I left him with his Grandma in a hotel room close to the Target Center so Mike and I could go see my first love in concert. 

     I still love Jon.  So much so that both of my children love him too. And that is the reason Mike and I will be taking them to the Twin Cities next Wednesday.  That is the day when they will see Jon Bon Jovi live in concert.  Twenty-six years have gone by and I still haven’t gotten over my first love.