Let me begin by saying I have always loved Bon Jovi, but now I love them even more. My husband and I went to see Bon Jovi in concert in Atlanta on April 30, 2008. We sat on the 4th row in front of Richie Sambora. It was the most energetic, amazing, fun event I have ever been to. The entire arena of 20,000 people were on their feet the entire concert singing every song with Jon and the boys. Chris Daughtry, who opened for Bon Jovi, came out during the Bon Jovi set and did a duet of "Blaze of Glory" with Jon. It was INCREDIBLE!
My husband and I adopted three teenagers from Russia last summer and we wanted to share our love for Bon Jovi and rock music with our children as a family event. So Thursday night, May 1, we went to the second Bon Jovi show with our three new children, our daughter-in-law and our 8 year old granddaughter. None of the children had ever been to a concert. We had two front row center seats in front of Jon Bon Jovi himself for this show plus five more seats on the fifth row. Within one song into the concert our three new Russian born children who had never seen or heard Bon Jovi where having the time of their lives! They were bouncing and shouting and holding up the "rock on" sign. Our eight year granddaughter who loves the guitar got to sit with us on the front row. When Jon and Richie both came to center stage to play together, our cute little big blue eyed granddaughter held her two hands high in the air and yelled as loud as she could, "Rock ON!" Jon and Richie both saw her and smiled at her. Later in the show when the band was playing "Keep the Faith" in which Jon plays maracas, without any warning, he turned his back to the crowd and then turned back around quickly and threw the maracas right to our granddaughter. The security guard thought he had thrown them accidentally and came and took them back from us and threw them back up on the stage for Jon. When Jon came back to the mic and saw the maracas on the floor, without hesitation, he picked them up and tossed them easily to my husband because he meant for our little granddaughter to have them. My husband gave Jon a thumb's up and mouthed a thank you to Jon. Jon smiled back at my husband and nodded his head without ever missing a note. He is so cool and kind.
Later in the show he came by and reached out to shake as many hands as possible. My husband held out our granddaughter over the security railing like a flat board for her to reach Jon. Jon made sure he shook our little baby's hand and mine too. When he shook our granddaughter's hand, he looked into her eyes and said "Hey sweetie." Her eyes were as big as saucers the rest of the night. I told her to watch Richie because he is one of the greatest guitar players in the world. From then on she was dancing and singing and clapping and watching every move Richie and Jon made.
This was one of the greatest nights of our lives thanks to Bon Jovi. Our entire family from age 8 to teenagers ages 14, 16, and 18 to adults 30, 40, and 50, are Bon Jovi fans now and forever. The band enabled us to share a night as a family and feel a real part of the Bon Jovi family- a night that I will forever be thankful for and remember. Thank you Jon, Richie, David, Tico, and all the band and crew. Bless you for "Making My Memory".

Love from the Love Family (Mike, Debbie, Alex, Jon, Raya, Suzanne, and Brianna), Maysville, GA