Journey

"Memories time cannot erase.....I still see your face...."

I was working at the radio station yesterday and one of my favorite new songs was playing. It's the newly revamped Journey song "Where Did I Lose Your Love". It's really a song about divorce, about breaking up, but visions of a girl I once knew long ago came flooding into my mind. We didn't really "break up"...logistically, we couldn't continue our hot teenage romance because she moved away. Her father was a minister and had been transferred to another church in the state. But for the too few months we spent together, my adolescent heart felt like it would explode every time I saw her.

I won't go into details of the relationship, but after the miles tore us apart, I saw her only one more time. My buddies and I made our senior trip to Houston, Texas, to celebrate our passing from teens to men. On the way back, I made the four other guys detour through the little town that she was living in, because I hoped we could reconnect and her memories would be as strong as my own of our youthful passion. After much griping about us running out of gas in the middle of a corn field (we were on fumes with no money at all between us), we stopped at a truck stop where I made the call to her home.

She came quickly, we talked, and once more, we kissed, bringing all those memories back of the time we had shared. But this time, it was different. It lingered, both of us knowing somehow that this would be the last time. The last time we would ever touch, would ever talk, would ever see each other again.

Sadly, a few years ago, I tried to find this girl through various sources, only to learn that she had died under circumstances I still have not been able to confirm. She did not live to a ripe old age. This revelation that she was gone from this life continues to evoke strong emotion in me. We weren't in a deeply committed relationship...in fact, as relationships go, we hardly knew each other. But it was, as the song goes, a flood of memories that time cannot erase. I still see her face.


"Where did I lose your love? You'll always be the question in my heart. How could I make you stay? I still regret the night you walked away. What we shared was not enough.... Where did I lose your love?"

I began thinking about those people who have touched my life in a way that will forever be etched upon my heart, my emotions, and my memories. In light of the recent passing of Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett, I watched as so many people were moved by the lives of these celebrities that they didn't know personally. For Jackson, open raw emotion had them crying in the street, clamoring to win the lottery to attend the funeral for the "King of Pop". They had never met this man in their lives, but his music touched them in a way that they remembered exactly what they were doing when his songs came on the radio.

I've been incredibly blessed to have so many people in my life that have left their mark. And the funny part is, these are people that aren't famous, haven't become rich, discovered a cure for cancer, or anything else noteworthy. These are just people that because of an act of kindness or just their presence have made my life a patchwork of memories and emotions that has formed me into who I am today. I react a certain way now because of my experience with them.

It's comforting to think in cases where someones life has come to an end prematurely, that it was not in vain. Until we get to Heaven, we may never realize how our own lives were touched by these people in the short time they were here on this earth. Maybe it's because of their memory that we strived to be a better person. We tried a little harder to make them proud of what we've become. Maybe we decided that a little embarrassment now was worth an eternity of understanding, if we just would have said something.

I've said all this to come to this point. Don't take these people for granted. Tell them now what they mean to you and why. Sure, it might be embarrassing. But so what? Let your friends know how much they mean to you. If you find your soul mate, even if being together is impossible, say the words. And if an act of kindness touches your heart, thank them for it. That goes for parents and grandparents, too. Before it's too late, tell them how much of an impact they've made upon your life.

As we take this journey....don't look back on your life and say "Where Did I Lose Your Love"?