Mindy and Bobby...
My Bobby Sherman Story...
1965...a time of innocence, friends, bicycles and music. This is when I first started listening to and loving Bobby Sherman.
His songs, as uncomplicated as they were, were full of meaning to a child. He sang of love and hope for love, and the pleadings of a young man trying to capture his lady's attentions. He sang of Peace in a time when peace was at a premium.
I can remember my friend Roni and I lying on our beds, cutting picture after picture of Bobby Sherman out of the popular fan magazines, 16 and TigerBeat, dreaming of the day we'd MEET Bobby and quite possibly marry him. My walls looked like a patchwork quilt of Bobby in every possible pose. There were love beads hanging on my dresser and chokers in my jewelry box. There were bell bottoms in my closet and ONE pair of platform (although modest!) shoes that I was FINALLY allowed to wear! There were peace signs and flower power symbols stuck to all odd surfaces in my room...and there was music...Bobby Sherman's music, coming from the LP's and 45's on my record player.
"Hey, little woman, please make up your mind
You've got to...come into MY world and leave your world behind"
Just before my 14th birthday in June of 1970, my parents asked me if I'd like to go SEE Bobby in concert for my birthday present! If you can imagine a young teenager going crazy...then you can imagine me! My parents! A concert! My Bobby!!! I couldn't have been more excited if someone had told me I'd won a million dollars!
"I'll put it all in one big basket
Cause lovin' you feels so fantastic!"
But then...tragedy struck!!! I had an allergic reaction to a poisonous spider bite of some kind, and my world fell apart. The reaction was serious...my body swelled into grotesque features, I had map-welt hives all over and the veins in my legs began to disintegrate. My legs turned black, I felt like I was walking on a floor full of marbles. I was in constant pain. I instantly had reactions to nearly all foods, no fruit, no vegetables, no candy...especially chocolate! No soda or Kool-Aid, only water. Beef, chicken and rock candy (wow, sugar!) became my sources of nutrition.
"Just hanging around, taking it slow
So happy I found I still can smile and dig the show"
The date of the concert approached quickly, with no change in my health. The DAY of the concert, I realized that I just could not go, so with a totally broken heart, I gave the tickets to my cousin, Diane. I cried for days...and didn't even want to HEAR how good a time she had, and how HER dreams had come true! My world had ended, as I watched Bobby Sherman veer off the time-line of my life...
"And I cried like a baby, in the darkness of my room
Nobody there to hold my tremblin' hand"
Three months later, more tragedy, but this time too close to home. My oldest brother, also Bobby, was killed in Vietnam. Another Bobby veered off my time-line in another direction. My whole family changed...we weren't, and never would be again, the family that we used to be. My older brother Bruce was off in VA, my older sisters Cindy and Jane went off to college, my dad curled up inside himself with his emotions. My teenage years were the pits...full of hate, insecurity and bitterness. And it went downhill from there. (don't get me wrong, there were SOME good times).
"There are people here, but still I'm alone
Why can't they see, we all run out of Time"
I seemed to be in trouble a lot, even though I don't really remember doing anything so horribly wrong...but I know I spent what seems like MOST of my high school years in my room, with Bobby Sherman (hee hee, yeah, I wish!). Without even knowing it, he became my very BEST friend. I talked to him and sang to him and cried to him. I lay on my bed and cried, talking to his beautiful face on his first LP, Bobby Sherman.
"In the land of Make Believe you are all mine...
In the land of Make Believe I'm feeling fine...
Making believe...you are here with me"
Changes came about in our family...we switched churches, and I began to meet people...go out on dates. I married young, I guess to get out of my unhappy home, and all was well...for a year. We traveled to CA, to seek our new life, which was a disaster. After coming home to PA, I found myself with child...my daughter, my Julie. Named after Bobby Sherman's popular song, "Julie, Julie, Julie Do Ya Love Me?", she was my life. We bought a dog, to grow up with her, and named it Jeremy. Then along came my son...who of course was named Josh. :)
"..and sometimes when you're nowhere near
life hangs so heavy and I feel such fear
and there's no use in trying, can't you see...
Then all at once you're by my side
and all my troubles take a ride
the future looks as happy as can be..."
Life went on...things changed for the good, then the bad, then the good again, you know, as life usually does. I divorced my first husband, and then proceeded to hit ROCK bottom. I delved into the world of drinking and drugs. I then met my present husband, Bill, and found happiness. We quit drugs and a couple years later we had a son together, named Christopher Robert.
"Only sometimes, I remember old times.."
In 1997, I began a search for people who had known my brother in Vietnam. I wanted to learn more about the brother I never got to know. The more people I found (30+ so far!) the more I learned about my brother and it became so exciting to finally hook some of these people back up with each other after nearly 30 years of wondering. I have so much respect for all they have done. All of the sudden, a piece of my brother, Bobby had come back to my time-line.
"I'm losing control...and I can't take it
But sooner or later...I know we're gonna make it"
Now...with my getting to see Bobby Sherman in concert and better yet...to have gotten to MEET him face to face, my life has finally come full circle!!
"Come close to me, Babe, come close to me
and you see the kind of world its gonna be"
Bobby, you have made my dreams come true...and you'll probably never understand how important that is!!!
PEACE, LOVE AND BOBBY SHERMAN!!!