On September 22, 2003, I had this impulse to check the Natural Official Site, so I get on and scan the News section and go to the Message Board.  And what do you know, Natural is gonna be in St. Louis.  It says they're doin' a performance and a short interview, and of course, it was scheduled the day before the performance.  So we're sitting here at 10:30 at night, wondering if it's live or if it was previously taped.

 

On another impulse, we get up and beg our mom to take us.  She tells us to call during school and see if she can pick us up.  Cell phones are illegal, so I make a quick call and find that she's pickin' us up in like, twenty minutes.

 

Right at this moment, I couldn't, like, breathe because I was wondering, "How many fans are going to be there?  Is this goin' to be like the Simple Plan signing where you practically run up to a table, let them scribble down some junk, and then be pushed away by the guards?  Will Natural be playing in doors or out, and will I even get to see them?"

 

The time arrives, and our mom already has the plan.  We stopped by a store quickly to buy a camera and some posterboard.  Then we rushed home to change into our Ben and Marc shirts made in some school class.  We grab the supplies needed to make the poster in the car and rush out of the driveway.

 

During the forty minute drive into St. Louis city and an almost miss-the-right-turn, we end up throwing together a great eighteen minute poster of the guys that looks like a two hour job.

 

We get there after a fifteen minute drive looking for a space, and finally we end up in a parking garage three blocks away.  We stand around, waiting, and the producer comes out and talks to us, saying, "What group are you with?"

 

Hesitating, we all say, "The Natural...Project?"  She looks at us strangely, and we say, "We're the fans."

 

She calls out the other producer, and she tells us about the last minute performance.  She gets us some free stuff, a book and a cd and a poster and a picture each.  The security guard warns us to stay behind the barrier or he'd have to pull us away and throw us half-way across the pavement (he was just joking...or at least I think!!!).

 

The producers kept saying they'd hook us up with the guys, you know get really close to them and get to hang with them.  She kept looking at her watch and saying they'd be there any minute.

 

A red van rolls up.  We knew it had to be them.

 

Marc Piacenza, their road manager, steps out of the passenger seat in the front.  Following him is Ben, then J, and then Michael.  Patrick continued, and the producer went up and was talking to them.  They kept looking over at us, and Marc came out of the van with one of the guitar cases.

 

We were in total shock as the guys approached us.  We couldn't breathe, let alone see straight or think logically.  It was like a dream.  Definitely dream material.  Our hearts sped up to the highest heart beat we've ever had.

 

J approached us first.  He was like, "You guys must be Ben and Marc fans."  He had seen our shirts with Marc and Ben's faces on them, and he had this funny expression on his face, like sarcastic disappointment.

 

The rest of the band came up and greeted us, and we were blown away.  They moved over to the side so they could set up for their television interview that they were about to do.  The woman from the television station kept telling us to go up and talk to them, since we had been waiting to for years.  The problem was, though, we were too shocked and were swimming in an ocean of happiness from just seeing them.

 

After Marc and Patrick tuned their guitars, we talked to the band.  They asked us our age and why we weren't at school, and we said, "Because we skipped school to see Natural!"  Patrick laughs,"Man, I hate school," but he comes back quickly and corrects himself, "but you should always stay in school."

 

We discussed lots of things with Natural and finally it was their time to do their interview.  All we had to do was stand there and scream if the cameras turned our way, and they did a couple of times.  We were even mentioned to be Natural's fans who were the "Doublemint Twins," and it was awesome.  They played an acoustic version of "What If," and between commercials when they were saying, "Stay tuned for Natural," the boys played other songs including "Still Gotta Live With Myself," which they asked us what we wanted to hear them perform, but we didn't answer because of shock, but they played it.

 

We got pictures of the boys and us together and one big, giant, awesome group photo of all of us.  Ben was being the biggest ham ever, for he was in, like, every photo!  Marc mentioned that he wanted to adopt us because we were so cute, too!

 

They told us that they would be playing at Westfield Shopping Mall (the Dove Mall as we call it).  So later, we ended up there.

 

Z107.7 was hosting it, and the boys let us into the place for free.  We were there for a while, mostly talking to Ben and Marc in the shadows of one of the trailers because the sun was burning our eyes.  Later, they played some acoustic versions of "Put Your Arms Around Me" and some other songs.

 

Finally, we had to go, so we hugged all the band and said that it was the best day of our lives.