The River: Dec. 4, 1980-Dec. 4, 2015: 35th anniversary of a first date

My first date with my husband was Dec. 4, 1980, the day we went to see Bruce Springsteen in Buffalo as good friends. I kissed him during “Rosalita” and the rest is history. The song before “Rosalita” was “Drive All Night,” and he did just that, driving from Albany to pick me up at St. Bonaventure University in Olean, NY. and then going to Buffalo to pick up another friend, Anne Rizzo, and see the show.

We had a party to celebrate the anniversary on Friday night. The stars aligned and for our anniversary Bruce released a box set and tour plans, including a stop in Albany. Once again, I found myself tracing significant important moments in my life — almost magically — to Springsteen moments. Our house rocked all night. It was a mixture of old friends and new friends, live music and, what I remember the most, tons of bear hugs with all who were able to attend. A special shout out of thanks to my entertainment organizers and terrific friends, Kim and Mike Cowieson, for bringing guitarist Tom Harding to perform an incredible selection of tunes. Also thanks to neighbor Jim Sinnott for an amazing renditions of “Born to Run” and “Sugar Mountain” with Tom. Mike and I danced during a fabulous “Drive All Night,” which should have been our first song at our wedding but wasn’t. Thanks to Kim, Mike and Tom for that song. Many of our guests wore ’80s garb and I set up a Springsteen display of sorts featuring my memorabilia and t-shirts.