COLPLAY AND THE STORY OF US

So this morning I got up at the BUTTCRACK of dawn. Was it because my baby was awake? No he slept in till 9:30 this morning. No, I woke up early so that I could immediately go and download COLDPLAY'S new single "Violet Hill". It came out at 12:15 London time, and I was up almost that early.

I actually felt like I was one of those nerdy star wars people that camps out in front of the movie theatre a week before the movie comes out re-enacting epic battle scenes or something. But instead of a light-saber, I was listening to all their greatest hits on iTunes, busying myself until it's release. So, why am I such a freak about Coldplay?

OUR HISTORY:

The Courtship
When Tim and I started dating (circa spring 2001) we would often drive around, talking about music. One night we heard this amazing song Yellow on the radio and missed who wrote it.

So we stayed up till laaaate just to hear it again and find out who did it, this was ofcourse before we realized we simply could have googled it. We decided that it would have to be our song. Because we stayed up late at night, watching the stars, just to hear the song with the line:

"Look at the Stars, see how they shine for you."

We immediately went to Circuit City (this was before Best Buy came to town) and bought their album Parachutes. We didn't even know any other songs of theirs, we just felt "right about it" I guess.

And that's where we fell in love..... with Coldplay that is.

The Commitment

I believe it wasn't until the Summer of 2003 when Rush of Blood to the head came out. I distinctly remember Tim surprising me with tickets to go see them. When we would explain how excited we were about it to people, they often looked puzzled, because they had never heard of Coldplay. That summer was epic in 2 ways.... first we went to see them in concert and I will NEVER forget that moment, then we got engaged, another moment I will always remember.

As we walked down the aisle, 10 months later, as man and wife, Yellow was blasting in the background, and we were liberated.

Then Coldplay got BIG.

The Trial

Soon after we got married, we found ourselves living in a foreign place, with very foreign music. We were elated to hear of Coldplay's new release in 2006 entitled X & Y because it was a little piece of home to us. When we finally heard it, we felt that the album as a whole seemed different and strange. And just like us, Coldplay seemed to be going through a hard time.

When Elijah was born, however, the song "Fix You" took on a whole new meaning, and it became our anthem for him. We could find a masterpiece amidst the confusing mess.

And that's where we come back to today and "Violet Hill". It seems that wherever we have journeyed, Coldplay has been a part of our world. To many, it probably seems strange, but to us, Coldplay is like family. In fact, if it were up to me, Elijah would have been Elijah Coldplay Warkentin. Fortunately for him, his father intervened.

So that's why I was up like a freak waaaay too early this morning, and why the name Violet might just be a future child's name.