Bob Marley (reggae in general)

My wife and I met four weeks before I was to move to St. Louis for graduate school. Things were going well and to make a long story short, we decided to try the long distance relationship thing. A couple of weeks after I moved down there and got settled, I asked her to come down. While she was there I was in absolute heaven. It was a nice diversion from being alone in a city where I knew not a single soul. While she was there we decided to go out. I had scoped a few places to go before she had got there. There are several bars along Delmar Avenue directly west of where I lived in an area called University City. It was where the Washington University students hung out (I was going to St. Louis University). We ended up at Blueberry Hill, a 50's themed bar and restaurant that played what else, oldies on the jukebox. We decided to eat first and then after dinner we went down stairs to the see what band was playing. It turned out to be a very good reggae band. I had never really been that interested in reggae before but after this night, I would definitely become a fan. The only reggae I knew was Inner Circle (the Cops theme), and the Steven Segal movie Marked for Death. I am not even sure if the band played any Bob Marley that night but it was great reggae anyway.

At first we just sat idle. We were still a new couple and I am sure there still some nerves between us. I knew she liked to dance but I was not sure if she would get into this kind of music. But after a few drinks I got up the nerve to pull her out to the dance floor and she did not resist. The place was not that big and it was packed with people. I remember it being very hot down there. We got out on the dance floor and immediately we felt as if we were in our own world. The music took a hold of us, the lights put us in a trance and we just flowed together as the music played. We were swaying and sweating in rhythm with the band, along with the rest of the dance floor. It was pure bliss at a time when we both needed it; unsure about our long distance relationship. It was a bonding moment for us and helped get us through being apart most of the time, for a while at least. Well it all worked out because we are now married and have been for nearly 12 years. She looks back on that night with smiles too, as if it is a private joke between us. Its just one of the many memories we have between us.

To this day, when I am having a bad day, I will sometimes put on Bob Marley and it takes be back to that night and puts me at ease, along with a smile on face. What does reggae, or Bob Marley, do you for you? Please let me know.