We're Gonna Party Like It's 1989....

I woke up this morning in a time warp.

It was 1989. I was 10 years old. And my favorite band was on TV.



Okay, so I'm fully aware that it's actually 2008, and I'm 29 -- not 10 (a quick check of my crow's feet in the mirror confirmed this). But for 25 minutes this morning, as I watched the New Kids on the Block make their comeback on the Today Show, it was like someone had simply stripped away the last 19 years (okay, the last 16 years . . . I admit that I loved them fully through 1992).

I had been moderately excited all week about seeing their comeback concert this morning, but I wasn't prepared for the tidal wave of nostalgia that hit me. I talked about this with my friend Reina, also a former diehard New Kids fan, and we decided that perhaps it's not so much about the band as it is about feeling like someone had handed out childhoods back to us. Seriously, I consider myself a pretty mature adult (well, 75 percent of the time, anyhow), but the old NKOTB butterflies were back in my stomach this morning as I sat three inches from the TV, clapping my hands together and drinking in every detail of the comeback show.

Let me just say right now . . . these guys are still HOT.



Alright, I know that all of you reading this who never succumbed to New Kids mania the first time around are probably giggling and thinking I'm insane. So let me just add a little fuel to the fire: I wasn't just a fan. I was OBSESSED.

Yep. There it is. The secret's out. I was the most devout of devout New Kids fans. I was the girl who who slept on New Kids sheets under New Kids curtains, took a New Kids sleeping bag to sleepovers, knew every word to every song, and passionately defended my favorite New Kid, Donnie, when he "allegedly" committed arson in the hallway of a Kentucky hotel or when he "allegedly" started an altercation aboard an airplane. (11-yr-old Kristin: "He was framed, I tell you! Framed!") I wore New Kids t-shirts, wrote Donnie's name on the soles of my shoes and even had an official New Kids on the Block peace sign necklace that I managed to pair with virtually every outfit.

But oh -- it gets worse. I'm originally from Massachusetts (home of the New Kids on the Block, might I add), and my whole extended family still lives up there. And as luck would have it, my grandparents actually lived mere blocks away from Donnie Wahlberg's house in Braintree. I felt like the luckiest kid in the world. I spent many a summer afternoon strolling casually back and forth in front of the big white house, hoping that he'd come outside and, although he was 21 years old to my 11 years, he would fall hopelessly and endlessly in love with me.

Shockingly, this never happened. I of course attribute this to the fact that he was never actually home at the time that I was doing my casual-seductive stroll. Had he been home, I have no doubt that it would have been love at first sight; we'd now be living happily ever after; and you'd all be addressing me as Kristin Wahlberg. (I kid, I kid.)

(Although, I should also add here that while strolling back and forth in front of the Wahlberg house, I did have the opportunity to talk to a teenaged Mark Wahlberg, before he was Marky Mark, and way before he became Mark Wahlberg Movie Star. Let us all drool for a moment....)



Okay. Yes, he's, like, the hottest human being on the planet. But still. I remain devoted to his big brother, Donnie. I didn't think I still felt that way. After all, by the time I was in high school, I was, of course, way too cool to admit ever having loved the New Kids. But 15 years later, let me stand up and say: "Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh" (the most ingenious lyrics ever written, of course). Oh yes. They're back. And I still love 'em. Because it's kind of nice to be 10 years old again, crushing anew on the boy (man?) I first fell in love with 19 years ago.


Donnie Wahlberg. Yesterday. Today. Forever.

*Sigh*

* Please note that the preceding entry is laced with just a little bit of exaggeration when it comes to my current New Kids feelings (although sadly, no exaggeration went into the descriptions of my past obsessive actions)... But really. It was great to see them again, and you'd better believe I'll be at one of their concerts this fall. In the meantime, please feel free to address me as Mrs. Wahlberg. And if you know Donnie, please tell him that his wife-to-be is waiting. He'll recognize me by the NKOTB peace sign hanging from my neck.