I was driving this am, listening to radio, and a song came on. Blues travelers hook. Immediately tears welled up in my eyes, and i’m flooded with emotion, flashing back to winter of 1994-1995 so i thought i’d share the story behind it.
In nov 1994, i was in grad school living with my girlfriend of five years. My mom was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer. Likely terminal in 8 mos or so. She was 60 at the time. My dad had died five years before at 57 from brain cancer. So i was desperate to spend some time with her, and i moved temporarily to chicago.
1.5 months later, i’m missing my girlfriend. I get a crazy plan around finally asking her to marry me. She flies to chicago for christmas. In a somewhat sleezy sex motel, i pop the question and give her my mom’s wedding ring.
She surprises me by not answering. She starts crying. I’m confused, but let her soak it in. I know something is wrong, she has expressed wishes to get married before. I was reluctant till i got my degree until now.
So we had tickets for the blues travelers concert. On the way to the concert, she shares with me she has been seeing someone else since i left her. And that i need to move out of her house.
I won’t bore you with what happened afterwards. Mom died, i rebounded to a new girl, and then ended up forgiving the ex and we dated another year before she cheated on me again to end it. Dreams of betrayal have haunted me ever since. I’m married now and happy, fully accepted the limitations of that old girlfriend and moved on. But this one song brought me back to tears, loss, death of the two most important women in my life at the time.
Thank you for listening. Peace out girls.
