Top 40 Foreward

Yes, I am THAT extra that I actually had a Foreward written for this project.

Some context: I went to high school with one of the most creative human beings I have ever met, a friend named Hallie. We were always dreaming up creative projects back then - and while I have sacrificed that side of myself to the gods of logistics and operations, Hallie has gone on to be quite successful as an artist and designer (was never in doubt).

20 years ago, I really started writing for the first time and I put together a collection of... well I guess you could technically call them "poems," but in reality they were probably really only hot garbage. Despite the inherent shortcomings, Hallie got the spirit of the idea and surprised me with an official "Foreward" to that project.

So as crazy as it felt (especially now that she is actually professionally creative), I had to at least ask if she would do me that honor once again for this little creative journey. She graciously obliged and took time out of her busy life to read through my entries. She wrote a Foreward that went and beyond any hopes or dreams I could have ever had and I'm insanely grateful.

i had never heard a garth brooks' song in my life. and yet one day after yearbook, 17-ish year-old me was handed a folded piece of notebook paper:

when the rain is blowing in your face

and the whole world is on your case

i could offer you a warm embrace

to make you feel my love.  

even now, *cough cough* number of years, and happily married, later, i still get giddy. my knees feel wobbly all over again. and while never-been-kissed high school me could write a book about every relationship i sabotaged over the next decade and a half or so until somebody else tried to kiss me, the good news (for you) is: that book doesn't exist.

what does exist, and is coming at you over the next 40 days, is a lot more proof of the power of music to dig up memories and transport us. the power it has to personify those life-making movie-worthy moments. and what you're about to witness is josh mahler's life in song. (alas, it's not a musical; somehow for all his life's passions, that one missed him.)

josh is about to give you a personal (sometimes pretty profound) peek into the deep cuts soundtrack of his life. over the next 40 days, you'll hear his top 40 life-told-through-music tracks (& other recommendations). you will laugh. you'll definitely cry. you'll get goosebumps and life lessons to rehearse, too. and if the right song is playing, you'll either fall in love for the first or final time.

so crank it louder. and trip in true shoe-gazing style over a blockbuster of a memoir/funeral planning guide disguised as a well-choreographed spotify playlist for TRL.

if you're lucky, maybe there'll be a mix tape at the end of it for ya.