Ever since I was in high school, I’ve been in love with Rod Stewart. It was a passion fueled by one of my best friends, Tarren. She and I saw him in concert together in St. Louis in 1996. The next year, I got a call at about 2 a.m. from Tarren, who was shrieking, “I touched him! I touched him!” after she had pushed her way to the front row at his concert and reached up to touch his hand.

When I heard Rod was coming to Chile in concert, I wrote to Tarren and begged her to come for a visit. She was tempted for a minute, but it just didn’t work out. Plus, she has seen him in concert 14 times and has tickets to see him again in August. When she couldn’t make it, I almost skipped the concert, too, but I felt like I owed it to Tarren and myself. His music was literally the soundtrack of our young adult lives. (When Tony and I got married, “You’re in My Heart” played for our first dance as a married couple, and Tarren’s wedding present was a CD player and our first CD, “Rod Stewart’s Greatest Hits.”)

It was surprisingly difficult to find anyone interested in going to the concert with me, but fortunately my friend Katherine’s mom was visiting from England and loves Rod as much as I do. So the three of us went to the show on Feb. 18.

Our seats weren’t great, and Rod has slowed down quite a bit. Still, he belted out those familiar tunes, flirted with the crowd, danced joyfully in his signature snug pants, and kicked soccer balls into an audience that clearly adored him. I heard he was the first popular singer to visit Chile after the Pinochet dictatorship ended, so many Chileans have a soft spot for him.

As for me, he’s in my heart, he’s in my soul … and he’s a special connection with a lifelong friend.