U2 'Lights My Way'... to 30

I was sitting on the couch last night, comfortably wedged between my old flannel duvet cover and two big puffy pillows. I'd just washed the itchy chlorine and sweat off my body and slipped into a tank and boxers for the night. I was roasting a bright yellow pepper in the oven and my post-workout cocktail of soy milk and coconut water was on ice. My evening plan was blog a little, TV a little, pack a little, blog a little, pack a little, talk to my MaineMan then sleep by 8:30 p.m.

Until this:

"Yo! One of T's friends didn't show up. Can you get your a** here! They are on at 8:45. Get to Penn, take any train to Secaucus, then follow signs to Meadowlands train. Very easy. $30."

O.M.G.

I'd exchanged a few e-mails with FoxyLady earlier in the day. The subject line of the e-mail I sent to her and LarchmontLass, my two missing in action roommates, was "Is anyone going to be home this evening?" I leave for Miami tonight to ring in my new 30th year and I was hoping I'd get to catch up with them before I left. FoxyLady informed me she was going to the U2 concert with a friend of hers from work and I almost lost it.

It has been my dream since I was in the seventh grade to see U2 live. For some reason, I was never in the right place at the right time with the right bank account. I spent my adolescent years in France blasting U2's "Joshua Tree" and "Achtung Baby" on my walkman. I prayed at night that I'd get to dance with Michael Cotten at our middle school dances to "With or Without You" or "One" (along with every other girl in my class). "With or Without You" went from being a school dance staple to the anthem for any love I found. I sing but have severe karoak-aphobia, but I swore if I was ever forced into it I'd belt "Pride" as a sort of tribute to Bono. "Bad" is my favorite heartwrencher of all time. If I had a theme song for my life, it would undoubtedly be "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking for." And who doesn't get a boost of energy or happiness after listening to "Beautiful Day"?

I jumped up from my cushy seat and read and reread the text. I paced back and forth in the living room and a few screams and curses may have been heard by the neighbors across the street. I ran into my bedroom and started throwing s*** into a luggage so it'd appear I'd actually been productive before I bolted away to hear my boys. I sent out a few alarming "What would you do?" texts and AlyCat put it best, "It's your freaking 30th birthday this weekend. You've never seen U2. They are your favorite band. They are getting old. I don't care that you have to be at work at 5:30a.m. Get your a** here." She plays a mean G.I. Jane.


I walked out of my apartment at 7:22. I was on the 8:04 train from Penn Station to Secaucus sipping on a brown-bagged 24-ounce of Bud Light and I was sitting down to the first Edge chord by 9:04. The night was flawless (until the nightmare commute home), through the last song and my last jump in the air. I was like a freaking pogo stick the entire concert. I couldn't stop waving my hands in the air, singing the lyrics at the top of my lungs and jumping to every beat of Mullen's drums.

In solidarity with Iranians and their fight for democracy, the stage turned green (every song seemed to have a different color scheme) and Bono rocked "Sunday Bloody Sunday." I'm getting the chills just thinking about it. If you asked me 18 years ago, as I was blaring it in the back of the bus with Crissy Jacobs splitting our headphones, where I'd be the week of my 30th, I couldn't have dreamed I'd be in New York listening to it live.


I promise I will get back to the food -- how the Apple got its start -- at some point, but a lot has been going on in my life beyond food that's worth sharing, and this was one of them. What a tremendous way to start off my 30th birthday weekend.

When a friend died earlier this year it reminded me that every day counts. "Don't put off tomorrow what you can do today" is just one of the carpe diem quotes I try to live by. Going to see a U2 concert was the first thing I ever had on my "bucket list" before I even knew what a "bucket list" was. Had I stayed in PJs and gotten eight hours of sleep last night I would be sitting here, wide awake and diligent at work, wondering what songs I missed. Instead I'm sitting here at work, slightly groggy, on three hours of sleep, glowing from the goosebumps, dancing, singing at the top of my lungs in the rain and high-fiving strangers when "Mysterious Ways" came on.

I received a message from a new friend on Facebook this morning when she saw I went to the show:

"A friend offered me a ticket at the last minute - your situation exactly - except that I wimped out and didn't go."

I've learned a lot of life lessons on the road to 30. And wimping out is not one of them.