| 5/15/2006 |
YOU'RE THE INSPIRATION
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Before you read any further... Click here and download the first song. Chicago - You're The Inspiration (Right Click & Save)
It's ok. I'll wait.
There are quite a few of my friends from high school that I keep in touch with. Sometimes it amazes people that I can say I've known So & So for over fifteen years. Charity is one of the few people that I can say I've know for over 20 years. Which... is cool and makes me feel a little old.
Moving on!
Charity always springs to mind when I hear Chicago's You're The Inspiration. Why? Glad you asked!
It was getting close to the end of our 6th Grade year. Back then the 6th graders were still grouped with the younger kids. We'd made it through elementary school and were on our way to junior high. It was cause for celebration. A graduation of sorts.
Matt S was the local rich kid. He's dad was a lawyer and his mother worked for the Arbor Day Foundation which was headquartered in my home town. Matt invited the 6th grade class over to his house for a party. Now, this was important on several levels.
I LOVED Matt's house. It was cool in a way that I wouldn't be able to articulate for many years. It was the kind of house that seemed like it held secrets. Good secrets. A gray stone exterior, with large windows, hard wood floors, and well-kept elegant rooms that, if human, I'm sure cringed at the thought of dozens of kids running through.
Charity was a friend in a way that I was not familiar with most friends. Not only was she cool in that sweet and innocent way, but she made my stomach turn. Ah... young love. I guess technically Charity was my first crush.
She would also be my first dance. The party was getting it's second wind. After playing in the park across the street from Matt's house and exploring any room that dared leave it's door open we all managed to congregate on the front porch that overlooked the park and busy main street.
The music was coming from speakers placed in open windows. Record perhaps, more likely cassette since that was the format of choice at the time. Besides, I"m sure Matt's family could've afforded such a sound system at the time.
The words flowed from open windows. "You know our love was meant to be,
the kind of love that lasts forever." The intial nerves were quickly banished as everyone paired up and began swaying in a very odd way. How do kids learn how to dance? From watching adults? From TV? Yet everyone seemed to know exactly where hands went and what to do with feet. No young Fred Astaires were present. This was about as basic as dancing gets. Hands on elbows. Room enough for a third person to be stuck inside joined arms. Maybe, your heel left the ground as you swayed. Maybe... The kids who really knew how to dance even turned slightly as they swayed back and forth. The Icky Phase that kids sometimes feel about each other melted for a moment. Long enough to act like we actually liked each other.
Looking back on the lyrics I laugh. What do 12 year olds know about love? Peter Cetera wasn't singing to a bunch of budding pubescent middle school kids. He was singing of real love. Real feelings. Real passion.
I carried a torch for a long time. Foolishly, long time... The kind of embarassingly long time that John Hughes makes movies about. After a while, I understood that while Charity wouldn't feel the same way, the way we DID feel for each other that came from that dance was somethign even better.
To this day, you can ask her what song it was and who she danced with and she coudl tell you. Being from a small town, we share a lot of friends, and have a history that many people will never fully understand.
In a way, the song really was about how I thought of Charity. She was the inspiration to write at various times. What started out as a first dance, and a long standing crush... became a friendship that no one will ever match. She is one of the people that I can talk to or get a letter from and it seems like no time has passed since the last time we talked. How many people have the power to bridge such gaps in time like that in your life? If you know of some... hold on to them. Tell them that you are appreciative of their friendship. Tell them why they mean what they mean to you.
Thank you, Charity. |
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I posted this @ 5/15/2006 12:26:00 PM.............Need a link?..........
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