Letters to my idols

Jack and Jack

Two nights

12/18/15
11/24/27

One song

Tides

Why does this song of yours mean so much to me?

Lets start with before you even made music and you just made vines.

Everyone knows about me quoting vines. I will always start conversations by saying
"What the fuck Richard?" or "Adam"

What does that have to do with this?
Vine is how I found you.

In 2013I found out about Vine. I remember scrolling through and seeing this one Vine in particular.

A blonde boy saying "Even if I miss, he doesn't" and throws a basketball to a briw. haired boy, dunking the basketball. Although I'm not a sports fan, for some reason I seemed intrigued. I found out the names of these boys...well...were Jack and Jack.

In 2013 I was in a patch where I didn't really have friends. K depended on music and funny videos to cheer me up. I would always be watching your vines, and one day I found out you were from my city, Omaha.

I found it so cool that people I'm a fan of were living in the same city as I was.

In 2014 I saw that you started to release music, and I immediately got hooked. I'm not sure whether it was the lyrics or the beats, but I got hooked.

Now we flash forward to my sophomore year. I was in a pretty bad state. I had personal stuff in my family going on, I wasn't sure if my friends at school liked me, I was at a low point with my mental illnesses, I felt like I couldn't get good grades anymore, I was fighting with my family a lot, I started with my bad habits, I was having at least one panic attack a day. I didn't think I was going to make it out alive.

But then 12/18/15 hit.
This was my first time seeing you in concert.

Before my favorite song of yours, you both gave a speech. You asked us to raise our hands if we felt like we had to change ourselves for someone to fit in and I raised my hands. You aksed us to put our hands down. Then you asked us if we ever felt alone and to raise our hands if we did. Both of my hands involuntarily shot up, because I was at that point in my life where I completely felt alone, I had no one to talk to. Not even my internet friends seemed to understand me. You told everyone to look around and to see that almost everyone had their hands up. Usually I never believed it when someone told me I wasn't alone but for some reason, this time I believed it. You proceeded to sing my favorite song, Tides.

This was the song I listened to all of my sophomore year. I still continued to have panic attacks pretty often but I remembered your speech and it would help me calm down.

Now let's go to 11/24/17
I made it to my senior year. I made it.

I got tickets to see you in Omaha and I was lucky enough to get vip. I ended up buying two tickets because I didn't want to go alone because of my anxiety issues. I then asked my internet friend if she wanted to go because she is also a fan. She told me she would ask her mom and her mom ended up saying yes so I bought a second vip upgrade. Then her friend who is also a friend of mine sent me a message on snapchat about how I got the vip tickets because she also wanted to go, I didn't know she was a fan. I told her how and she got her tickets and vip. We all went together.

The day of the concert we arrived at the venue. My heart was racing with joy amd all three of us couldn't contain ourselves. My heart was racing in line. The moment that was about to happen didn't seem real.

My friends met you before I did. When they were done I heard the security guard say "Next" and it was my turn. My arms felt like noodles, my legs felt like jello. My heart was racing. Next thing I know I am meeting you guys and I'm feeling happier than an adopted puppy.

After getting the picture, my mind tells me to tell you about how you got me through my sophomore year. I told you almost everything, I decided to leave out my habits and the panic attacks and what exactly I went through. I didn't want to have a breakdown. I just wanted to focus on positivity.

You told me you were proud of me, you thanked me for telling you, you said you loved me. You both hugged me twice after I told you what happened, after I said how you helped me make it through my sophomore year and that I made it to my senior year. You told me you would look out for me during Tides.

That's why those two nights and that one song mean so much to me.