The Dream Team

Who is ready to throw all their savings for a pair of concert tickets to watch a blast from the past? (Raises her hands and looks around). That's right. The announcement many of us females who were teenagers in the 90's had been waiting for came out yesterday. New Kids on the Block, and the Backstreet Boys, on one stage together, coming to a city near you in the summer of 2011.

I can already hear my bank account saying Cha-ching.

You may be thinking, ok this woman here is 30, isn't she well past the stage of girly crushes and drooling over men who are now into their forties-well some of them anyway. Well hear me out.

I was raised in a house with three girls. I am the middle of us. My older sister is just about six years older than I. While I won't disclose her age, I will just say that she was a teen during the reign of NKOTB. I being the kid sister that I was followed her every move. Including dancing along to the same tunes she loved. And the band of her choice was, you guessed it NKOTB. I can't tell you how many times I sat there learning the dances, which I will not be ashamed to admit I still remember to this day. She lived for those boys right up til their demise-thanks to the grunge era-which ironically happened right about the time she went to college, and liking boy bands was not about to win you any friends.

Five years later, I found myself heading into the last years of my own teenage years when five boys from Florida would become my 'world' And if anyone thought that my sister was bad, I could pretty much say, I topped her when it came to devotion and love of the boys. My walls were lined, my locker was filled with images of BSB, Nick Carter more specifically. I was in love with him. To this day, I would probably say there is a part of me that misses those days. I learned the dances, I went to their concerts. Spent endlesss amount of time and money on anything that revolved around them. From lunchboxes to albums to magazines. Most of which I still have to this day hidden in a box somewhere where my husband may or may not know about.

But unlike my sister, who stopped following her boys. I to this day continue to follow, buying up albums they still put out. Attending concerts they put on. While I would love to say I go there simply to remember my past, part of it is also because I still love them. I still pull out their records thinking they are amazing. Maybe a part of me will never quite grow up. Even my own mother, will contribute to my 'love' Just yesterday she taped Oprah for me since they happened to be on. I wanted to hug her that much more.

This all being said, you can imagine my excitement when they announced that both bands will be coming together to tour next summer. Could this be? Yes....and while the 30 year old in me tried to hide the excitement of seeing both bands-I have never seen NKOTB. The sixteen year old teen girl in me jumped up and down already staking out her spot in line....

and exclaiming that she is sooo there!!! Backstreets Back alright!