Ok, now before you start reading this, you MUST click on the link above and have the song playing in the background while you’re reading. Besides one of the most heartbreaking melodies in music history, this song has just the perfect tone for what I’m typing.
Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Tuesday’s Gone” was written about the loss of a relationship but it has really become so much more than that. To college students everywhere, it’s the signal for an empty keg or a party that’s run out of booze. For music historians, it’s a puzzle about who is “Tuesday” (sort of like Carly Simon’s “Vain”). For classic rock fans, it’s a haunting reminder of how short life is (see the story of Lynyrd Skynyrd and the tragic plane crash). But for me, it’s about loss and the past and moving on towards something new.
The past is a lonely country, especially if you have troubles or sorrow or tragedy in that rearview mirror. It can, however, also have its bittersweet moments, those times when you laugh through your tears. When you remember a happy time in the midst of great loss, when love outshines the grief. I think we’ve all had those times when, despite a hardship, we have found a silver lining, a moment of peace, a smile.
Those smiles are what makes it easier to move forward. Tuesday may be gone but Friday is coming, right? Train roll on, I may not know where I’m going. But I know that I have some wonderful moments behind me. Some happy, some sad, many bittersweet, and many full of love – but all of them making me who I am. The past can’t be ignored or forgotten – like train tracks laid behind us, the events behind us have carried us to this point – so use it as the foundation for what lies ahead…
Well said!!! Love the song that you have playing in the background… kind of like “All Roads Lead to You” by Chicago and “Bless the Broken Road” by Rascal Flatts.
You have a very positive outlook, and that will guide you wisely. My mom use to say (very often) to me, “Let Go and Let God”. Some of the best advice that I still carry with me to this day!
Love your writing!