#ghyo

One year ago today, Simple Plan's Get Your Heart On! album was released. At this point, I had already been a fan of Simple Plan for 9 years and I really didn't think there was anything that they could do that could make me actually love them more than I did. 

Over the past 10 years, Simple Plan has been one of the only constant pieces of my life. When I was leaving elementary school, a friend of mine told me about this song she had heard called 'I'm Just a Kid'. She couldn't remember the name of the band but as soon as I heard the song, I knew there was something about the music that spoke to me. When I started high school, I was literally alone. I went to a different high school than most of my friends, and I was shy so making friends was difficult. During lunches and on weekends, the only thing that I could always count on was that I could turn on my cd player or iPod, and Simple Plan's 'No Pads, No Helmets...Just Balls' would be on a constant loop. When I had no one else, when I listened to the lyrics a of Simple Plan song, I felt like there were other people in the world that felt like I did. 

Almost 10 years ago, I won tickets to a small show downtown Toronto, where I would for the first time, get to see my idols live. This wasn't the first time I'd been to a concert but it was the first time that I was going to see something that literally meant the entire world to me. At 14, I knew this night was going to be on I would remember forever. 

After the concert, my friend and I waited until the crowd cleared out to leave, when I saw Pierre and David standing where I had just been standing. I felt like I would faint. I could never have imagined that I would meet the people that made me feel like I wasn't alone, that made me feel like there was a reason why I was here. And so that night, I met my favourite band. I spoke to each of the members - Pierre, David, Sebastien, Chuck and Jeff - and I had the chance to tell them just what they meant to me. They were some of the nicest people that I'd ever spoken to, and I can't describe how much that night meant to me. 

When GYHO was released last year, one of the first song I listened to was This Song Saved My Life. I didn't know what to expect from the song but it was so much more than I could have ever imagined. I sat in my room and sobbed. This song described everything that I have ever felt about Simple Plan and their music for the last 10 years. Through high school, through my parents' divorce, just through life. It felt like they wrote that song for me, for everyone that ever felt like I did and I could never thank them enough for this song - and every song.