The Anchor

You are the light that is blinding me

You’re the anchor that I tied to my brain

Because when it feels like I’m lost at sea

You’re the song  I sing again and again

 

All the time

I think of you all the time

You aren't going to believe this, but I used to turn the radio off when Pompeii was on.

I had other music to listen to. Other things to do.

But then everything changed.

Have you ever stopped and wondered if specific things are meant to be apart of your life?

Moments, music, or people, each have a role. 

They act like a road that helps lead you to where you need to be...

Sometimes I have dreams of music.

There's nothing going on in my dream - It's pitch black but with music in the background.

Bastille's Pompeii played in my dream one night.

And that morning, a fun journey would begin.

It happened as I was eating breakfast. My mother was in the other room watching the SNL episode she recorded the night before.

Suddenly, the song I heard in my dream began to play.

As I got off my chair and began walking towards the television, my mother called as if on cue: "Kathryn this band looks like your kind of band!"

And that's when I saw him.

Dan Smith.

I eventually found out that this tall, funny haired, talented, man was someone just like me.

Almost too much like me.

A goofball, a child at heart, a pessimist, a perfectionist, a lover of music, and someone slightly insecure and on the shyer side.

I had no idea yet, but he was someone who would teach me. 

A person who would spark my interest in history, and expand my taste in television shows and movies.  

He was a man who I, in the future would travel to see.

He was a man who would send out his tour manager to find me.

And he was a man who would for one night,  help protect me from afar.

I got to see Bastille with my sister in 2014.

But what I'm here to write about now, is my second time I saw them.

On Thursday, December 8th, that tickle of knowing something important was going to happen teased my mind.

Even my friend Danielle felt as if something was going to happen.

And something did happen.

I'm still trying to fathom it all.

If I could describe it, I would say time froze.

and I am very lucky.

I was on the far right side of the stage, 2nd row.

I couldn't really see any of the acts before Bastille, because in front of me, behind me, and next to me, were taller people.

I was sandwiched in close.

When Bastille came on to the stage, Dan ran to my side and stood on an amp.

Its as if he knew I couldn't see.

He looked straight down at me - and his piercing blue eyes met mine. Mine out of all people he could've looked at.

And to my surprise - he didn't look away.

I tried to smile, but was in shock.

I stared back up at him with a straight nervous face.

Suddenly, he gave me a look. I tried to decode it.

Was it was a look of recognition? A look of confusion?  A look of empathy and nervousness?

The crowd began to turn and look at me. Wondering what was happening.

It hit me.

It was that look someone gives you when they know who you are - but they can't remember how they know you.

For the rest of the show, Dan would run to my side of the stage. I would smile at him and he would acknowledge me.

At one point I motioned for him to come over to see if he would.

I was having difficulty seeing him, and I wanted to start a game.

To my surprise, he came running back and stood on that amp, smiling down at me.

Seeing Dan again on this night was like a final bow. A win.

After everything that happened from 2014-2016, Bastille and their music are the last pieces of what I found and fell in love with still standing.

There isn't a doubt in my mind Bastille..and even Dan himself came into my life for a reason.

It's that look he gave me that I'll never forget.

It just seems as though...we're supposed to know one another in some way.

He will forever be my anchor.

There's more to this story - and more that happened during the concert - but I'll save that for later! x

 

Author's Note