True Blue

I was in grade 6. Mrs. Ramsay's class. It was a french immersion split and she taught the English, History, Geography and Arts portion. We focused on Arts about 90% of the time. She was a terrific teacher and she had somehow managed to talk the Principal into letting her purchase a singing machine. It was on that very singing machine that I recorded myself singing for the first time. And that first song was TRUE BLUE by Madonna. I can still hear my little voice (I recorded it onto a tape and would listen to it in my room along with Barbara Streisand's Memories which I also recorded. Terrible by the way. So terrible) singing over hers:


"I've heard all the lines,
I've cried oh so many times,
Those tear drops they won't fall again,
I'm so excited cause you're my best friend!"


I wore blue eyeliner, I tried ever so hard to tease my dead straight baby fine hair, I traded jelly shoes with my girlfriend, I owned a beige vest that I wore over my white t-shirt and I had (extremely) untamed eyebrows. I was 10 gimme a break!

As she progressed and grew, so did I. Her lyrics echoing her fashion in a statement of their own. Sex, Freedom, the guts to give her opinion and stand behind it without shame, the courage to say FUCK YOU and live through the consequences, the gift to keep us talking and listening for almost 3 decades. The break ups, the mishaps, the rumours, the pregnancies, the newest Hit single hitting the charts, the dance moves, the attitude. I used to dream I was her up on stage. I used to dream about singing into bright lights with crowds screaming for more more more!

Last Sunday I saw her in concert for the third time with my bff Dax. Over drinks before the show we realized that this was the first time we were out together since pre baby, sans baby. Holy Shit are you kidding me? 2 years since we cut some rug and let loose? So that is exactly what we did. Now, more then ever before in my life I have learned to cherish things. Moments. Minutes. It has never been more clear to me the value of time. Needless to say we were two of the most rambunctious, loudest, happiest and "in the moment" women at the concert. We danced, we sang, we screamed, we cheered, we held hands like little girls and jumped up and down, we celebrated.

Sometimes life can wrap you up so tight you don't even realize you need to shake loose. Sometimes it takes something out of the ordinary to make you stop and listen. Thank you Mrs. Ramsay for teaching me to open up and sing; thank you Madonna for your inspiration; thank you Dax for being right beside me.