On 10/21/10 around 8:30pm, I arrived at the "Underground Cafe" open mic night at California University with my djembe hand drum. I was ready to jam with my new musician friend, Seamus Hutchens. Little did I know this would be the night I met the love of my life and future wife Kaitlin Elizabeth Lang...
As I sat by myself in the middle of the room quietly tapping my drum waiting for Seamus my thoughts were interrupted by a girl's voice from across the room. She yelled, "Hey! I like your drum!" With out hesitation, I got up (taking these words as an invitation for conversation) walked over, and sat down in front of two girls, Kaitlin and Diane.
They both seemed to be a little embarrassed and shocked that I just came right over and introduced myself. I was a little surprised myself as I am a very reserved, quiet type, yet at the time extremely motivated to find musical friends during my first semester at CALU.
I saw a guitar case laying beside the girls so I continued to ask if they played and if they would like a drummer without even knowing their skill level or what kind of music they were into. Diane spoke for Kaitlin with a quick "Yes she needs a drummer" so I requested she take her guitar out and play something I could play along too. After about 15 seconds of playing quietly together by some miracle she agreed to allow me to come on stage with her.
While waiting for the first act to go on, I had time to ask a few questions to what seemed to be my NEW friends.
NICK: So... What kind of music do you like?
KAITLIN: ummmm, probably nothing you ever heard of.
NICK: you'd be surprised. Try me.
KAITLIN: Chris Botti and Andrew Bird?
Until that moment the only person I new that heard of Chris Botti other than myself was a 60 year old man who introduced me to him a while back and as for Andrew Bird, Well, he just happened to be my favorite artist at the time. A few seconds later, I learned that we shared the same favorite song by him- "Anonanimal". I also quickly learned Kaitlin's new interest for photography as she seemed excited to learn more about her new SLR camera.
Five minutes later, as we started playing together on stage for the first time, I heard the most stunning female voice singing her own original. I knew that without a shadow of a doubt that I had just met someone... Someone I seemed to have way too much in common with... Someone I felt I must know more about. I knew it was only the beginning of what would be an incredible friendship.
Below is a a photo taken 14 days after Kaitlin and I met. It seemed she liked me enough to allow me to share the stage with her once again, this time off campus in town at Jozart's Open Mic.
Sincerely, Nick and Kaitlin
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