The First Time I Saw Him

The first time I saw Adam was in 1999 at what we dubbed “The Howard Show”. I had turned 16 in the spring so I had my drivers license. I was free to move around the county! I heard about the Howard show from friends and that a band from my high school would be playing. A friend of mine was the bassist so I drove up to show support and listen to some good music.

I met up with one of my girlfriends who had gone to enjoy the music. She taught me how to play bass and we used to jam together. She was the first person to introduce me to rock music. Playing in orchestra I was mostly focused on classical music. I would listen to the radio and was more top 40s before I met her. Adam was playing music that she had introduced to me. So his band stood out to me. 

I didn’t know it at the time but I was making fun of him because his dad was recording him on the old video recorder. I saw him mom standing in the back corner talking to some other women. I thought it was hilarious that someone had brought their parents along. The girls and I poked fun at this observation.“Awe…look who brought mommy and daddy to the show” “really they are recording on that hunk of junk?” So from the first day I saw him, I was giving him a hard time. All in good fun and it never stopped. 

Adam was really into what he was playing. His movements were exaggerated. He played hard, so hard in fact that his bass drum kept sliding across the platform he was on. At the end of each song, he would stand up, grab his bass drum, and slide it back in front of him. Again we poked fun at him. During one of the songs the lights in the gym went out. Only for his band were the lights lowered. He said he worked it out that they would get that special privilege. It was cool, and once they were done playing the lights came on. 

I remember the shirt he was wearing. It was orange and black, a weird textured shirt that looked like swirls. Not the best fabric to wear when playing as hard as he was because he clearly became hot and took this shirt off. He had a wife beater underneath and he was so skinny! His chest was sunken in and he was pale. I thought it was kinda hot but he was a little over the top for me. ssssha

Adam was such a dork. Always was a dork, which is one of the main reason why I love him so. I am a big dork too. He told me he had forgotten to bring some carpet for the show and that is why he was kicking out the bass drum off the platform. He was hilarious and goofy, but I didn’t talk to him, because well I was too cool for him. HA! I am a shy person so I talked to a few friends after his performance and left. At the end of the show he was selling/giving away his band’s cds. That would have been one of the best times for us to meet but I was focused on my friends and he was focused on passing out his music so it didn't happen that day.

We always talked about that day; it was one of the first memorable chances that the fates were bringing us together. I have spoken to those who were there and none of the remember Adam specifically. His soul must have caught mine’s attention and that is why this day became seared into my head. 

I had been to plenty of other shows for local high school bands and I never remembered anything about anyone other than the bands my friends played in. There were about 4-5 bands playing that night and I only remember my friend's band and Adam’s band. So it was strange that when we met 5 years later I could recount all of this to Adam. He would recount his perceptive of that night to me. Explain why he was such a loser and brought his parents. haha. His parents have the video somewhere. Adam and I watched it once. It was grainy but everything I had told him I remember flashed across the screen and our jaws dropped. I actually remembered it all correctly!!

Sometimes your soul knows something you don’t. There is a reason why my eye went to Adam that night. There is a reason why this memory never escaped my head like so many others had before. The next 5 years SUCKED for us, but the events that happened in that time really helped us to bond even more after we met. There was a reason why we didn’t start dating after that night, though I like to think that our lives would have been better if we had. 

So that’s the story of the first time I saw my lovely. I found his band's CD and that’s what urged me to write this piece today.