Every day with BTS

On December 9, 2022, I was alone in my hotel room while the rest of my family were at my oldest daughter’s rehearsal dinner for her wedding the following day. While I was a little sad that I had to quarantine because I had COVID, I was comforted by listening to RM’s, “Indigo.” So, I thought to myself, “how did I get to this point, where BTS is my support in all I do?” Well, you know what they say, “You will find BTS when you need them the most.”
It started in the winter of 2016. My youngest daughter had asked for BTS related things for Christmas. She was a senior in High School and had been following them for a couple of years. We listened in the car to the “Most beautiful moment in Life, Part 2,” that I got her for Christmas. She asked if we could go to the concert at Allstate Arena, Chicago in March. I had my first experience with getting tickets and never realized how fortunate we were to even get seats, though they were in the very last row of a section that was a long way from stage. I started trying to pick out who was who on her posters. RM made the most impact, I could recognize Jungkook and I fell for, “Twenty First Century Girl,” and the “Fire,” and “Not Today,” music videos. As we approached the concert date, first I, then she came down with the flu. We were starting to feel slightly better by March 29, but took our medicine before we went.
That concert was it, the moment when I became hooked on BTS. When we walked in, we were handed turquois translucent sheets to put over our phones (others attending had Army bombs but this predated bluetooth ones) and we became part of the rainbow ocean during the interlude, the plaintive chorus from “Spring Day.” During the concert I was very impressed with the spark plug, ultimate performer, J Hope. I screamed when they said, “All my ladies, scream.” I enjoyed, “2,3,” when there was a full HD screen of each member across the front of the theater.
From then on, I started watching youtubes regularly, learned their names, gained a bias, (RM) and created a voting account for the Billboard awards. We celebrated with Korean food for supper on the night of the show. My first comeback was Love Yourself: Her and I streamed it. The first tweet I initiated was with my daughter on her twitter account, wearing white t-shirts and wishing Jungkook birthday wishes. In November of that year, I created my own Twitter, Tumbler and Instagram accounts so I could use them for the very time consuming project of voting BTS for MAMA. On Black Friday, I got up and streamed, “Mic Drop Remix,” most of the day. I can say that I know I helped them to get many exceptional streaming records and I still stream regularly on a daily basis. I also google them several times a day for news updates, just can’t help myself. During COVID, the double chorus of, “On,” became my hand washing song. (still is!)
Even though I have a bias, and a ship I like, I can honestly say I am an OT7. I love these guys to pieces. My very favorite BTS song is, “Idol.” Everything about it is perfect; costumes, choreography, singing, rapping, fan chant. (MMA Award Show of 2018 was the bomb.) The Hamilton, Ontario Canada concert was one of my favorite experiences, and I think doing the fanchant for Idol helped rev me up for the experience.
Being a part of the BTS ARMY has been wonderful, too. I am old, you know, almost retirement age, but people of all ages can see how very good BTS is and how much BTS appreciates us fans. I lost my best friend a couple of years ago to cancer and having friends all over the world on Twitter provides comfort to me. I am a social worker and a church musician and I find it entertaining to see posts from many diverse people. I myself have had cancer twice and I make it my goal to support any person asking for prayers or hearts on twitter daily. I also never ignore somebody saying it is their birthday and send birthday greetings.
So, you may ask, “Did you get to go to your daughter’s wedding?” I consulted a doctor, who felt that it would be safe to go to the outside wedding as many days into the virus as I was and with no symptoms, as long as I wore a good mask and socially distanced from the bride and groom. I held my breath for a few maskless pictures, but the good news is that I was there to see my beautiful daughter get married. Nobody else attending got it from me, thank God.
I will keep on purpling BTS for ages to come, and the BTSARMY as well.