What we have is something far greater than the ideal loves described in the world’s most romantic stories that have ever been told. It’s a specific kind of love, one that goes far past what words can even explain. We are just two people who happened to find each other years ago, and refuse, under any circumstances, to let each other go; and trust me, we’ve had more than our fair shares of the really good, and the really bad. We aren’t anyone’s vision of “ideal love”. I just can’t remember what life was like before I had him and now I can’t even seem to know where I end and he begins. We’re more than two halves that make a whole, more than two pieces of a puzzle, more than lock and key, more than everything to each other; soul mates. I’m not exactly sure what people would call us…

The first time I heard of him was when a friend of mine and my family went out to do some shopping and then to see a movie way back in 1997. Crista and I were in Claire’s looking at all the tacky jewelry; ring watches being the new trend, when my younger sister and my parents came in from the music store to meet up with us. Alexandra, or Ali as we call her, was about 6 or 7 at the time, held up her newest purchase; the Hanson “MMMBop” single cassette tape. I had no idea who they were, and so I didn’t really care, but my sister was excited she had it in her possession. I shrugged it off, and we continued our night out.

Some time went on, and one day when my sister and I were in a bookstore looking at magazines, she asked me to buy this special edition magazine that was dedicated to these Hanson guys; brothers Isaac, Taylor, and Zac, the boys from my sister’s cassette tape. I bought her the magazine, still not knowing who these guys were. After she was done reading it, I asked for the Taylor pictures and articles to ship to my oldest friend Liz (we have the same name, to save from further confusion) who had moved to Florida after living across the street from me her whole life (Liz moved out, and Crista moved in). I remember Liz had mentioned in a phone conversation that she thought Taylor, the middle brother of the group, was hot. I still remember how much I laughed at her when she confessed that. I may not have known who these new boys were, but I sure as heck knew what they looked like, and there was nothing super sexy about them. Ali willingly gave me what I asked for, and I tucked the pictures and articles away in my desk drawer. I also wound up forgetting to ship them entirely.

That summer, I was doing some re-arranging in my room, and had a blank spot on my wall that I needed to fill. My wallpaper of 80s neon palm trees wasn’t cutting it for my preteen persona anymore. My sister came to my rescue again and let me borrow a remaining poster from her old magazine to decorate the spot until I could get to the store to buy a piece of art that I really enjoyed. A few days later, some friends were over and one of them commented on how cute the guys were and asked me if I liked them. I explained why the picture was hanging, and that I really didn’t have a clue who they were. I knew they made music, but nothing else. They were my sister’s thing, not mine. My friends laughed at me for my nonchalant attitude and claimed they were the next big thing. We chatted about them and their growing fame for a few more minutes, I found out some more about Hanson, and decided to move on from that topic to go swimming and cool off.

Long story shortened up a bit (and to get to the better stuff, obviously), more time passed and I heard from more friends and random classmates about these guys called Hanson, and needless to say, everything about them wound up slowly growing on me. Then, that morning finally came.

One day when I woke up surprisingly early, I saw them live for the first time. It was 9:00am and I was watching morning talk shows, which was odd because on most days, I slept right through morning programming. When I came across Regis & Kathy Lee, I saw that Hanson was going to be on and I decided to watch to see what these guys were REALLY about. It was a lame and cheesy interview, but they seemed like funny and awesome guys. Isaac, or Ike as fans called him, was the 16 year old guitar player, Zachary, Zac, was the wild and crazy 11 year old drummer, and then there was him… Taylor, Tay, the shy, soft-spoken, and amazingly cute keyboard player (yeah, great, I can’t laugh at my friend Liz anymore). All I remembered thinking when watching was this his voice made him sound like Budnick from the old Nickelodeon show “Salute Your Shorts”, but he was pretty adorable. He had a shy smile, blonde hair, and the most intoxicating blue eyes I had ever seen. On top of that, they were all pretty talented, and his voice was pretty sexy and raspy, even for being 14. After that day I knew I had to really find out more about them, about him, I was hooked.

As the days and weeks and months went by, I officially became a fan. I taped the guys TV appearances, bought every CD and magazine I came across, hung their pictures everywhere, and secretly thought about Taylor and what it would be like to love him, and better yet, to have him love me… always. As luck would have it, they were on tour (Albertane Tour, oh yeah!), and wound up doing a show in a neighboring state. One of my good friends at the time was going to the show. Her name was Desiree, and she was a bigger fan than anyone I knew. Her dad was a bass/ guitar teacher who once gave lessons to a guy named Scott Hogan. Scott was now on the road with the guys as their back up bassist, so Dez and her family were not only invited to the concert, but they were going backstage to meet the guys, and she asked me to take the trip with her and her family because I was invited too. I freaked out. It was the perfect opportunity. I had to be there, I had to meet these guys. Unfortunately, I was young, I was only 12, and my parents wouldn’t let me go so far away alone. My dad was away doing an art show, and my mother wasn’t able to go at the time to help chaperone. It was an ideal opportunity to meet the guy I was starting to majorly crush on, and I was being told “no”. I didn’t know what to do. It was insane to me to be told no from the one thing I was caring about right now. I knew they had to know who I was, even if I meant nothing to them, even if I was just another fan out there who bought their albums and put money in their pockets. I needed them to know that I existed and that I appreciated all three of them. The night before she left for the show, Dez came over. Liz was up visiting from Florida too as she does every summer, and we all hung out as Dez waited for me to write a note to Taylor, and then a second note to his brothers as well. I kept it general, and tried to not sound obsessive or generic. I let him and his brothers know I was a fan of the music, and that they should keep doing what they were doing. I also told them how I admire what they do because I understand how they live. Since my dad is an artist, I’ve spent my childhood on the road, travelling around to various places for him to do his craft while I lived out of a suitcase and sat backstage behind a booth, while people swarmed in to admire his work and get a chance to talk to him. I knew how hard it could get to be away from home, and all the other things that went hand-in-hand with that. I wrapped up the letter and handed it over to my messenger, and told her unenthusiastically to have a great time.

A few days after when she was back from Hershey, Pennsylvania, she called, and we talked about her time there, and she recapped the show and meeting the guys for me. She told me how great they were and how Taylor had taken my letter, put it in his butt pocket, and according to Scott, was reading it on the bus trying to write back to me. I was ecstatic. I could only wait now, and hope that I got some sort of response.