Day 7 - That Summer
Garth Brooks
1993
Disclaimer: All perspectives, opinions, and memories in this entry are mine and mine alone. Some content is rugged, raw, and - sometimes - NSFW, but it's all authentic and included with purpose.
Why It’s On The List:
Back to back days of Garth Brooks! (Stay with me, non country music fans.)
Ok... we've slowly tip-toed into the "getting to know Josh Mahler" waters the past week. Now we're gonna start getting a little more personal...
This song is about a young guy that spends a romantic summer with an older woman. Pretty much sums up my first love as well. It was the summer between my sophomore and junior year of high school and she had just graduated. To this day, I have no idea why she ever had any interest in me, but I was crazy about her. We could only see each other maybe a couple times a week - and there was no texting or social media, so we would write long letters to each other in between and exchange them when we could. It was innocent and fun.
When she left for college, she left a mix tape and one last super-long letter in my mailbox. I sobbed like a baby because I knew it was over and I knew it had to be. Sure enough, she came home for the first time at Halloween and one of her friends broke it me she had started seeing someone at school.
They are still married to this day! The best thing I learned from her was to be bold. I was such a shy, nervous, sheltered kid before that summer (for confirmation of this, please read the story below in the "While We're Here" section). She always surprised me. She always kept me on my toes. She always made things fun.
I can’t stress or oversell this point enough: so much of my self-confidence over the years has come from knowing her. She taught me to always go for it and that you'll only regret the moments that you let slip by. 25 years later (TWENTY FIVE??!!), I can’t thank her enough for those lessons.
You never forget your first love and your first kiss. And I will never forget that summer.
Favorite Line:
Ok... we've slowly tip-toed into the "getting to know Josh Mahler" waters the past week. Now we're gonna start getting a little more personal...
This song is about a young guy that spends a romantic summer with an older woman. Pretty much sums up my first love as well. It was the summer between my sophomore and junior year of high school and she had just graduated. To this day, I have no idea why she ever had any interest in me, but I was crazy about her. We could only see each other maybe a couple times a week - and there was no texting or social media, so we would write long letters to each other in between and exchange them when we could. It was innocent and fun.
When she left for college, she left a mix tape and one last super-long letter in my mailbox. I sobbed like a baby because I knew it was over and I knew it had to be. Sure enough, she came home for the first time at Halloween and one of her friends broke it me she had started seeing someone at school.
They are still married to this day! The best thing I learned from her was to be bold. I was such a shy, nervous, sheltered kid before that summer (for confirmation of this, please read the story below in the "While We're Here" section). She always surprised me. She always kept me on my toes. She always made things fun.
I can’t stress or oversell this point enough: so much of my self-confidence over the years has come from knowing her. She taught me to always go for it and that you'll only regret the moments that you let slip by. 25 years later (TWENTY FIVE??!!), I can’t thank her enough for those lessons.
You never forget your first love and your first kiss. And I will never forget that summer.
Listen to "That Summer" here:
The passion with which Garth sings this line on the live album is epic:
“Every time I pass a wheat field
And watch it dancing with the wind
Although I know it isn’t real
I just can’t help but feel her hungry arms again.”
While We're Here:
God, I hope she doesn't mind me sharing this story, but (A) it's too good to pass up and (B) it's been two and a half decades, I doubt she even remembers it.
After she, and a couple of our other close friends, graduated high school, a group of us decided to do a "classy" night out where we all dress up and go to dinner. I think we went to Pargo's over by Greenbrier Mall (L.O.L.). I remember that I wore a teal suit like an idiot.
Afterwards we all went over to somebody's house to watch "Forrest Gump."
We were some sheltered white kids, for real.
Midway through the movie, she leaned over to me and whispered, "I got a new wristwatch for graduation. Do you want to go to the other room to see it?"
Me, in all my naive glory, responded, "Can't we do it later? I'm watching the movie."
Omg. I still wish I could go back in time to yell at myself.
Thankfully, she didn't give up on me.
I'm paraphrasing here, but essentially she responded, " Hey dummy, I think you really want to go to the other room to see this watch."
"Fine! Let's go see this amazing watch!" I barked, irritated and sarcastically, as I got up.
OMG.
She was a better person than I was. She taught me to have patience with people and see the macro picture. Who a person is now isn't who they have to be forever. She got that. I've intentionally worked on that over the years. Recognize talent and opportunity early. Work on it. Stay with it. It was a very valuable lesson that I credit to her.
Oh, and I'm happy to report that I never saw that watch.
If You Like This Song...
Since we did Garth yesterday, here are some of my other favorite Youth Group era songs:
- Big House
- Jesus Freak
- Shine
- The Great Adventure
- Bannerman
- Beyond Belief
- Somewhere Somehow
And of course, some other classic 90's Country:
- 3rd Rock From the Sun
- John Deere Green
- Fishing in the Dark
- Don't Take the Girl
While We're Here:
God, I hope she doesn't mind me sharing this story, but (A) it's too good to pass up and (B) it's been two and a half decades, I doubt she even remembers it.
After she, and a couple of our other close friends, graduated high school, a group of us decided to do a "classy" night out where we all dress up and go to dinner. I think we went to Pargo's over by Greenbrier Mall (L.O.L.). I remember that I wore a teal suit like an idiot.
Afterwards we all went over to somebody's house to watch "Forrest Gump."
We were some sheltered white kids, for real.
Midway through the movie, she leaned over to me and whispered, "I got a new wristwatch for graduation. Do you want to go to the other room to see it?"
Me, in all my naive glory, responded, "Can't we do it later? I'm watching the movie."
Omg. I still wish I could go back in time to yell at myself.
Thankfully, she didn't give up on me.
I'm paraphrasing here, but essentially she responded, " Hey dummy, I think you really want to go to the other room to see this watch."
"Fine! Let's go see this amazing watch!" I barked, irritated and sarcastically, as I got up.
OMG.
She was a better person than I was. She taught me to have patience with people and see the macro picture. Who a person is now isn't who they have to be forever. She got that. I've intentionally worked on that over the years. Recognize talent and opportunity early. Work on it. Stay with it. It was a very valuable lesson that I credit to her.
Oh, and I'm happy to report that I never saw that watch.
If You Like This Song...
Since we did Garth yesterday, here are some of my other favorite Youth Group era songs:
- Big House
- Jesus Freak
- Shine
- The Great Adventure
- Bannerman
- Beyond Belief
- Somewhere Somehow
And of course, some other classic 90's Country:
- 3rd Rock From the Sun
- John Deere Green
- Fishing in the Dark
- Don't Take the Girl
*raises hand excitedly* Can I say it!?
ReplyDeleteHindsight is 2020
BOOM.
DeleteI think I speak for everyone when I say we need pictures of the teal suit, please and thank you.
ReplyDelete