Love for 20 Years

About 20 years ago when I was a young girl I remember hearing the song "Please Don't Go Girl" on the radio for the first time and immediately took a liking to it. Something about that young boy's voice sounded cute. Then a bit later I saw the video and my eyes widened at the little boy in a black vest standing behind the mic. At the bottom of the screen read: New Kids On The Block, I instantly needed to know all about them. One day in the store with my mom I came across the magazine rack where I use to look for pictures of Scott Baio (I know! I know! ) but was now looking for anything about New Kids On The Block. There it was....Teen Beat. They were not on the cover but I saw their name along the side and flipped through the pages inside to the picture of the group along with an article about them. I had my mom buy me the magazine and couldn't wait to go home to read it. I must have read it a dozen times remembering the names with the faces....Jordan Knight, Donnie Wahlberg, Jon Knight, Danny Wood and Joey McIntyre. Ah yes, Joey McIntyre...the cute little boy with the black vest standing behind the mic singing "Please Don't Go Girl." I thought he was so cute I couldn't stop talking about him and the group to my friends and family. My mom told me I had officially developed my first BIG CELEBRITY CRUSH.

From that moment on it was like they took over my life. Spent my allowance on magazines where I would nice and slowly tear out the posters (hoping not to rip the sides) and taping them to my bedroom walls. My room was covered from ceiling to floor on all four walls with every poster I could find. I have to admit there might have been more Joe Mac posters then others, I guess declaring myself a Joe Girl. I played their cassette tape over and over until I knew every word to every song. I watched every TV program they might have been from Friday Night Videos to their Saturday morning cartoon. I had everything from posters, to dolls, to sheets, to shirts. I knew everything about them there was to know. I was a BLOCKHEAD! I would sleepover my cousins' house and we would stay up all night talking about one day getting to see them in concert.


Then the announcement came...they were coming to Chicago. We were soooo excited but were crushed when our parents said we could not go. I guess no one wanted to sit in a stadium full of screaming young girls for hours. I was sad but got over it and continued to love them from a far. As the years went by and I got older my love for them continued to grow as well. It almost felt like we had been growing up together.

Past New Kids On The Block, Hangin Tough, Funky Funky Christmas, Step By Step and even Face the Music I still had the dream of seeing them in concert one day. But as I entered the time in my life where "boy crushes" became more real then a fantasy I started to share my heart with REAL boys in my life. My love for them never faded I just had to learn how to make room for reality. Then one day like a ship in the night my "first loves" were gone. Donnie, Jordan, Danny, Jon and Joe had left the spotlight and I had to come to terms with the fact that my chance to EVER see them was OVER. I wouldn't get to say a simple Hello, nor a Goodbye!

During the next 15 years I became an adult, a women, a career person, a military soldier and a wife. But thru it all I always carried those 5 boys from Boston with me. Often playing their songs and reminiscing about them with family and friends that shared that time in my life. Looking back on what I thought was the best time I realized that my current life had become such a routine that, what I once considered still part of my life (NKOTB) was now just a memory of my childhood. I am sad to admit that I did not follow any of their solo careers. I guess real life got in the way.

One day I saw a movie called "Sixth Sense" and couldn't believe my eyes...it was Donnie Wahlberg. I immediately started to search for other movies he may have been in. I felt eager to watch what I could find. Not long after that I got a call from a friend telling me to turn on the show Boston Public. I was shocked to see none other than Joe McIntyre. Guess what my new favorite show was? He was then announced to be on Dancing With The Stars. I of course watched and voted every episode. It was kind of strange to see them on TV and movies.But what was more strange was the butterflies I would get in my stomach when I watched them. Then of course all the "what ifs" started. What if they (NKOTB) ever got back together? That would be cool. But as many fantasies it was short lived.

Then one day my brother called me on the phone and said he just read something that said NKOTB was getting back together. I thought he was playing a joke on me cause like most brothers of Blockheads, he still liked to tease me for liking them. I went straight to the Internet to search for some truth. Oh my God, there was a website! My heart raced as I clicked on it. The screen began to flash a video that displayed words like..Stay Tuned...It's Time...or something to that effect. A short audio clip played in the background. Could it be a new album? Is this really happening? I immediately called my cousin and started screaming on the phone to her about what I had just came across. Over the course of the next few months I would become obsessed with the thought that they would be together again. Signed up for email list, message boards and whatever else I could fine that would keep me updated.

It was aired that the New Kids On The Block would be making their official comeback announcement on the Today Show. I will never forget that day as long as I live. I had to work so I was recording it to watch later. That had to be the longest work day ever. I couldn't wait to rush home and watch what would be the most anticipated thing in New Kid History. LOL! The curtain dropped and there they were, all five of my first loves just standing there smiling. I felt like a kid again and starting jumping and screaming. It was true! The constant checking of the website and emails that gave little hints had paid off. A new album! Maybe even a possble tour! It WAS really happening! If one thing was for certain, it was that I was not going to miss my chance to see them in concert. I wondered how many fans were still out there. I always said once a Blockhead always a Blockhead. But how many other thought the same way?

The tour was announced and a Meet & Greet was offered before the show. My cousin and I knew we would do what we had too in order to fulfill our childhood dream. Tickets went on sale and within 5 minutes we had officially bought not only our tickets to the concert of a lifetime BUT I was going to be able to meet the boys who obviously still had my heart. I said this is what I needed to completely close the childhood chapter of my life. This was the missing piece to my younger years.

October 4, 2008, I headed to the Allstate Arena singing every word to every song of their new album, "The Block." Tears began to roll down my face as I took in my nerves of meeting what in my eyes was the best boy band ever! My feelings were so intense cause this time I didn't only have one favorite, they were all my favorites. Unlike when I was young and claimed Joe Mac as my ONLY favorite, I now felt that each one of the guys had something special about them that I could not choose just one. Don't get me wrong a Blockhead will always have their childhood favorite, but this time around it was different. All five guys grew up to be handsome men. Ok who am I kidding...they grew up to be HOT SEXY MEN! Lol! I had a "crush" on ALL of them.

My group letter was called and it was time to line up in front of the black curtain. My hands started to sweat and my heart started to race. Behind those curtains were 5 men who I use to talk to on my wall and dreamt about meeting in person. Behind those curtains was 12 year old Salina who once had a crush on that little boy in the black vest standing behind the mic singing “Please Don’t Go Girl.” The curtain opens and I walk in. I stood frozen in the middle of the room. This was all so surreal. I got hugs from all the guys and became extremely nervous as I stood in front of Joe. I was about to hug my first true love. A hug was exchanged and I felt the tears begin to fill my eyes. I tried to hold it together as I walk over to Donnie, whose hug helped calm me down. Posed for a picture and it was over. My time was up. It was time to leave the room. I had just relived 20 years of emotions in 2 minutes. As I step out of the curtain past the next group of girls who also had that nervous anticipation look as they were about to walk into that room, I began to cry. No words can express the love, the satisfaction, the joy, the accomplishment, the DREAM I was feeling at that precise moment.

It was time to head into the arena for the concert of my dreams. If my night couldn't’t get any better, I had 5th row center stage. I was about to see the New Kids on the Block perform in concert as I had always hoped for as a kid. The lights faded black; the screams of the women in their 30s began to get loud. The big screen on stage started to flash images and clips of what I call “the journey between the guys and us Blockheads”. The screen displayed NKOTB and what was like a voice from above sang “If you came here by yourself tonight...” I started to scream louder as did the rest of the fans. “Pretty mama if you’re single…” Now screaming louder! My heart racing, my tears flowing, my adrenaline pumping….BAM! Smoke shot out from the sides of the raised stage! “If you ain't got no money, if you ain't got no money….” Donnie, Joe, Jordan, Danny and Jon were lifted onto the stage to give what I call the BEST concert performance of MY life.

After that night some part of me feels like I was meant to never see them as a kid. My appreciation and love for them was greater now than I think it would have been back then. Needless to say that my idea of “only doing that one concert to fulfill my dream” was NOT gonna be the case. I left that concert wanting more! Needing more! Demanding more!

15 concerts, 5 Meet & Greets, Cruises, Twitter, Twitter contest, Backstage raffle winners, new friends, many many road trips and solo performance parties later, the love I have for them is just as strong if not stronger as it was when I was 12. As in the past, anyone not in our “circle of love” can NEVER understand the bond we have with each other. It’s one that truly cannot be explained with words. You have to live it, experience it, and be one with it, TO GET IT!

As I sit here today and read a tweet sent by Donnie Wahlberg that says “my eyes are filling up with tears at the love you all show…my heart is full! Wow!” I realize that the love he feels inside for us is the same love we feel inside for them. To quote a line from Donnie’s song “You know it’s kind of strange. We sorta like one in the same.”That sums it up PERIOD!

I am happy that this journey has not come to an end. I know one day it will and when it does I will sit here knowing how wonderful it was. How in some way it was meant to happen this way. We were meant to reconnect with each other at this time in our lives. A time where like many others my life was just….blah. I woke up every morning and did the same thing over and over without even realizing it. There were no NEW adventures or moments. I often say they were brought back in my life to remind me of the fun I had as a kid. To help me realize that even though I am an adult with responsibilities I can still have fun like I did as a kid. They have been the happiness some lost... the strength some needed…the love that was missing….the motivation to help. Whatever the reason is I am grateful it did happen. But until that final goodbye comes, I will continue to ride down “The Block” for as long as they are willing to ride down it too.

I realized that this was not only the final chapter in my childhood, but the start of a new chapter of my adulthood. This new journey has given me so many new memories and new friends. I can’t even picture my life without some of these new friendships I have made.

Every single one of the guys has contributed to making MY New Kids adventures an experience to remember. But I do have to say: Donnie Wahlberg, YOU have really gone above & beyond to make what was once this 12 year old little girl’s DREAM a REALITY! I will forever be thankful for all you do for me and the rest of the fans. As I always say, “Thank you for not only treating us like a FAN but like a FRIEND.”

To all of the members of the New Kids on the Block: Jordan, Joe, Danny, Donnie, and Jon…..I’LL BE LOVING YOU FOREVER!

BLOCKHEAD FOREVER!

- Salina xoxo - Chicago, IL

@peronigrlsalina