Hello everyone,

This is a song that I requested my friend Dipper's help covering more than a year ago. It sat on the back burner for quite some time because neither of us were really sure how to approach the idea, as, with the different parts and harmonies required, we were stumped for a very long time as to how to go about doing it. I'm pleased that it's finally gotten done, and I have a story to share as to the reason why this song means a great deal to me, as does the person who helped me cover it.

What I'm about to reveal is something that not even Dipper knew when he agreed to do this for me. This is something I've sat on, thinking about it, for the better part of a year, and, the more time that passed, the stronger my reason for wanting to do it became. Here's the story on why this song means so much to me. Be warned, this is a rather long story.

In 1998, at the age of thirteen, I was having a lot of trouble finding friends that stuck by me or wanted to be close to me. Sure, I had friends, but I could never really call any of them 'close friends'. It became so difficult for me to make friends in person that I turned to the one other possible source for friends that I had: the internet. Back then, I started exploring many different Yahoo groups that were based on interests I had. One of htem, specifically, was a group based around the movie 'A Goofy Movie'.

In this group, I met several others that shared an interest in the same goofy characters I did, and I found myself greatly enjoying the company of the people there. One particular person, however, stood out among them. This person invited me into the story-based roleplay that the group had been running for quite some time, despite the fact I was new there, even going so far as to let me take control of one of the characters he'd been roleplaying with, simply because he knew he was my favorite character at the time. Both surprised and pleased by this, I took the role and joined in the fun.

The group became a great source of fun for me. I would get home from school and I went online, usually being able to make my posts for the roleplay at the time. Somewhere around a year or so later, I began talking with the person that had initially invited me into the fun on Yahoo Messenger. Now, mind you, at the time, I had no real knowlege of the person to whom I was speaking, other than knowing he liked the characters and movie as much as I did.

Things started off kinda slow, with is mostly talking about the movie and the cartoon it was based on, but it eventually grew into a conversation about other interests, and, within that year, I found that, while I still had other friends, this particular person was the one I spent a lot of time talking to. He was really nice, incredibly funny, and, again, having certain common interests really helped.

Fast forward to about four or so years later. I won't say things were really bad for me, but I found that I was never really happy during that year. Eventually, my friend caught on to this, and started asking me what was wrong. It took some doing, but he got me to admit how lonely I felt, and how I really didn't know how to relax when I got this upset. It was then that he suggested I try listening to music. Well, to be honest, up until then I never really listened to music much.. Not really because I hated it, but because I never really found anything I liked. Having told him this, I asked if he had any suggestions. He told about music he always found to be quite relaxing: Enya. I'd never heard the name before, so I asked him to link me to some of the music, and the piece he led me to was this song. I listened to it once and was blown away by how calm it made me feel afterward. I remember thanking him profusely for introducing me to the music. That song and, in fact, the entire album became something I would often go back to if i was upset, nervous, scared or even angry, and it always prought me a sense of calmness.

Infortunately, circumstances that I had no control over forced me to lose the internet for for a few years after that, and, when I came back, the group I'd used to be a part of was dead, and many of the members had abandoned it. To make matters worse, my e-mail account that was tied to my messenger had been hacked and the password had been changed out from under me, so I couldn't even get on my messenger friend's list to find my friend.

This forced me to start a new account, which I then subsequently used to start searching for other groups related to the movie. It took a while, but I was eventually able to find one that, to my surprise, my friend was a part of as well. I told him a lot about what had happened to me during that time, and was pleased me was that he remembered me. I had learned that he'd gotten a lot more active with doing music himself than when I had last seen him, and had also introduced me to a set of characters he called 'The Beach Bears', whom he used regularly to do song covers himself.

Finding the thought rather intriguing, I asked him to show me some of the stuff he'd done. I was surprised to hear myself actually enjoying covers of songs he'd done, even despite the fact the original songs themselves were never of any real interest to me. Whenever he came out with something new, I was quick to listen to it or comment on it. I really grew to enjoy the little group of characters he created.

He has, since, taken the covers to many of the different songs he's done, and turned it into what, in my opinion, is an amazing story that is easy to get lost in.

By now, I'm sure those of you that know him know I'm referring to my friend Dipper in all this. He knows he's made a huge difference in my life as far as friendships go, but I had no real way to show him just how much of a difference he's made.

I asked Dipper last year to cover this song with me because it is, by far, my favorite memory of my past. I owe a lot to my friend Dipper, and, while this song isn't the *first* memory I have of him, it's the one that means the most to me.

So, Dipper... I just want to say... thank you for all your help over the years... And thank you for doing this song with me.