One year ago to the day...

[Annie <pagesangel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

and where was I spending it??  Yep...in London.  I was even with the
great friend I made at the gig, and we both laughed as I looked at my
watch and mentioned that a year ago tonight we were on the tube going
to the O2, and here we are one year to the day smashed in like tinned
sardines on the underground again!  We went and sat in our favourite
meeting spot and just talked and talked about Zeppelin, still
astonished that we actually saw them, and just as excited as we had
been a year ago.  It is wonderful to be able to chat with someone who
is as enthusiastic about Jimmy's playing as I am, and we talked about
the tiny little things we hear in the music that still thrills us to
the core when we listen and how great it is to keep discovering things
we love in the music all these years later.  I still squeal with joy
listening to The Zep, and that is a gift of unmeasurable value.

If the calendar didn't say Dec 10 2008, I wouldn't believe a year has
passed since the show.  I can remember every single second of it,
something I had dreamed to see for 35 years unfolded right before my
eyes that night, and the long wait only intensified the pleasure of
the experience.  It was heaven - glorious joyful bliss.  I have never
felt so alive as I did watching Jimmy play right there in front of me.
 I was swept away by the intense power of it, and I can still feel the
thundering in my heart, and my spirit leap every time his fingers
graced those silver strings and he poured his magic into them.
Awesome.  Simply awesome....

Before I left London tonight, I hopped on the tube and made a quiet
pilgrimage to the Docklands.  There were no swarms of excited Zeppelin
fans decked in their Zep t's (well none that I noticed), but I could
still picture them smiling down at their armbands with a mixture of
pride and disbelief, I could hear the excited cries of "YEAH!"
"WOO!!!"  "THIS IS IT!!"   I could still see them aghast looking up at
the marquee and hear their shouts of joy and rounds of applause when
they saw Zeppelin's name come around in lights, and I can still hear
the one fan I overheard in all that happy din as he stood in in front
of the entrance saying to his friends, "I don't want to go in yet.  I
just have to stand here and think about what is about to happen."
They all stood there arm in arm, and after their pause to take it all
in, they literally skipped into the O2.  We were all a big, happy
Zeppelin mess!  What a night!

So now here I was standing in the silence looking out at the arena and
feeling it all over again.  I took out my old mobile and fired it up
to read the messages that my friends had sent me that night.  I saved
every one of them.  "Annie, enjoy every second of it!"  "Brace
yourself girl - here it comes!"  "The Jimmy!  The Jimmy will be right
there in front of you!  Scream at him for me!"  "Annie, promise me you
will at least glance at Robert once.  Pretty please?"  And one from a
very special friend, my babysitter who brought me the first magazine
picture of Jimmy I ever saw when she heard me humming a Zep tune and
realised I was a fan, "When you go into the arena, make sure you go in
as that little girl who wrapped herself around the speakers straining
to hear every note, because now she will be able to see her dream."

And it was a dream.  Dreams can come true.  And even if you weren't
there, turn on the music, raise a glass, and smile - you're a Led
Zeppelin fan!   The music will always lend you its magic.  It's a gift
in whatever form you receive it - rejoice in it!   :)