by Marisa Talarico

On Thursday 4/19/2001 a dream that I have had since 1987 amazingly came true. This was a day that I dreamed of, imagined and played
through my mind for all these years. Since January of 2001 after purchasing my Elevation tickets for the San Jose Arena shows, I decided
to "try" to meet Bono. Even though I had always thought of this as the impossible, with the stories that I had read about
fan meetings in other cities, I atleast thought it could be a possibilty. So on the morning of 4/19 I got up to go to work and on my way
scoped out the scene at the San Jose Arena, talked with some security and got very lucky as one of the guys told me he heard that U2
would be arriving at around 3-4 pm......
so I went to work. I could not concentrate on anything other than the fact that U2 was coming to San Jose for the 1st time in a very long
time....and the fact that this was my "chance" to meet Bono. So I harassed my supervisor until she let me leave for the day......so I went into
the bathroom, threw on my homemade silver glittered Bono shirt and was off on my mission....
With my Mom in tow so she could witness this event if it actually happened, we were off to the Arena, which is only a few blocks from my
work.
We found just 2 other people waiting in back of the Arena at the gates where they were to arrive. And security still kept saying the rumor
was 3:30 - 4:00, so we waited. As time passed by more and more fans started to arrive. So security ended up putting up a barrier in front
of us. I was directly in the center of this barrier with my Mom to my side.
At about 4pm, we saw a motorcycle police barricade coming down the street followed by many black sedans....IT WAS U2!!!
So we all started to get very excited as the cars descended down the pathway to the back entrance of the Arena. It was all so surreal to
me. I
was praying that Bono would walk up the ramp to greet us. My mom didn't think he would. The next thing that happened was
UNBELIEVABLE.
Bono starts to walk up the ramp. He arrives at the gate entrance, very close to us, and I yell out "Thanks for 14 years Bono" ......... Bono
sais "14 years eh?" and walks directly to me and kisses me on my right cheek.
I was in complete and utter shock. My mom was nudging me telling me "he just kissed you!" and I just stood there saying "thank you" over
and over and staring at him right in front of me. It was bizarre at how shaken I was, I thought I would be able to tell him so much, instead it
was hard to find any words, it was so mesmerizing! He grabbed my Bono picture disc that I have had for years, out of my hands and
signed Bono 2001 on
it. He was chatting, but I can not remember one word he said!
Bono was so kind, so beautiful, he is just as I always imagined him to be. He was SO soft spoken, I could not believe how quiet he spoke.
He was wearing sandals I remember with heavy socks underneath them! He looked adorable.
I just stood there in awe at what was happening to me. It was wonderful. While he was in front of me, I had told my mom to move down
the row and try to get a picture of us....which she did take while he was signing my disc. I managed to ask Bono for a picture and if he
could look "that way" so he did, but sadly my Mom ran out of film on the last picture. (This was one
of 2 upsetting moments during my Bono meeting!) I then moved away from the front row so that other fans could scoot up to get pictures
and autographs too. I could not help but get teary eyed at what just happened. I was crying tears of joy, I just met Bono!
Bono then moved his way through the line, and made sure that everyone who wanted an autograph received one. My mom had moved
towards the end of the line, to see if Bono would sign my Joshua Tree program, which is very important to me as I bought it in Oakland the
night I first saw U2 11/15/1987 .... so when Bono reached my Mom, she handed him my program and told him that it was for her
daughter....he asked my name
and she told him, so I heard him repeat my name outloud. He has signed my program "Bono, with love Marisa 2001" , awesome with my
name on it. Bono signed just a few more autographs before his bodyguard started to say that they had to go. So I decided to try to get the
picture that
didn't come out before, and I walked up to him as he was about to turn around to walk back down the ramp, I asked him for just one
picture. He quietly said "ok" and he put his arm around my shoulder as I did the same, we look at my Mom, she snaps my digital camera
and it was very quick. I told him thank you again and he walked away. My mom had a look of horror on her face and she then told me that
the camera had not worked properly and the photo did not take. My mom felt very sad about this, knowing how important it was to me.
But I could not let anything
dissapoint me, I just met Bono, and have memories to last a lifetime, so how could I ever let it upset me. My dream was just fullfilled and I
will never ever forget what happened to me on this beautiful day.
But I will ALWAYS be searching for someone that has pics of that day!!!!
Thanks for reading!
If you were there, and have ANY PICTURES of this amazing day, PLEASE EMAIL ME AT U2SJ@hotmail.com
Thanks U2 for making my dreams become reality!

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