Love is Coming to Us All
Posted: Sunday, February 19, 2012
by Jack H. Schick
I was kind of a wreck the last month or so of my senior year in high school. My girlfriend of the past year and a half had dumped me. I deserved it. I didn’t treat her with the respect that was due her. But, hey, I was only seventeen. Life ain’t give and take when you’re seventeen. It’s just take. In most cases couples aren’t couples, yet. They’re just sex mates and friends who are trying to learn what grown-up means. As one popular song concludes, much of those years are a teenaged waste land—not because the teens are wasted, but because they waste so much that is good by seeing the world only from where they stand.
I was still needy, though. I didn’t want a date or a fling. I wanted a mate, a steady, a long term friend, and I mooned about it. I pushed too hard and scared the girls away. “Oh, please, please, be mine.” I wanted things the way they’d been, but none were interested in that. The young life was too short. There was too much time for that later. There was too much focus on the ‘take.’ I was always on the lookout for that one, that one who would need and want me as much as I needed and wanted her, whoever she might be.
My graduation gift was a trip to Europe. Some ‘young adults’ from our school joined with some students from Ohio to fill a bus tour. Naturally, in my emotionally wrecked condition I soon latched onto one of the girls. We became great friends. We spent many wonderful hours together on the tour. We continued a long range relationship after we returned and went off to college. We met up again several times over the next year or so.
I knew it was not the relationship I needed. She never wanted me as much as I wanted, or shall I say—needed her. One of the last times I saw her I asked, “What song will remind you of me?”
She thought for a minute and said, “I’ll think of you every time I hear “Carry On” by Crosby Stills and Nash.”
We lost touch soon after. I suppose if I wanted to track her down now, forty years later, I might be able to, in this age of the Internet and social networks. But, do I really want to? What could it lead to but disillusionment and the destruction of great memories of the past and of life today? All I need to do, to relive that rebound relationship, to see her the way she was under the Eiffel Tower or sitting on that bench in Heidelberg, is to put an old record on the turntable, or put the re-mastered CD in the machine.
I always think of her, of those long ago days, and of the way life plays out when I hear “Carry On.” I guess that’s all we can really do in our lives—“We have no choice, but to carry on.”
“Carry On” by Steven Stills
One morning I woke up and I knew
You were really gone
A new day, a new way, and new eyes
To see the dawn.
Go your way, I’ll go mine and
Carry on.
The sky is clearing and the night
Has cried enough
The sun, he come, the world
To soften up
Rejoice, rejoice, we
Have no choice but
To carry on.
The fortunes of fables are able
To see the dawn
Now witness the quickness with which
We carry on
To sing the blues
You’ve got to live the tunes and
Carry on
Carry on
Love is coming
Love is coming to us all
Where are you going now my love?
Where will you be tomorrow?
Will you bring me happiness?
Will you bring me sorrow?
Oh, the questions of a
Thousand dreams
What you do and what you see
Lover can you talk to me?
Girl when I was on my own
Chasing you down
What was it made you run?
Trying your best just to get around.
The questions of a thousand dreams
What you do and what you see
Lover can you talk to me?
(Assignment- 2/19/12)
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Top-level comments on this article: (9 total)Excellent Jack. I'm sure most if not all who read this can relate in someway to this. At least I hope so.Hey! Hi. Thanks for reading and commenting
Good trip down nostalgia lane Jack- I think most of us can relate to it. As far as the teen years being a wasteland, I think it IS because most of the teens are wasted! We wish it wasn't so, but there it is.....Perhaps with the coming of the internet and the need to have a clearer mind to navigate it- this will go on the wane....it does have its good as well as bad effects on the human population. Thanks for a heartfelt article- perfect for Valentines Day. Always Ellathanks for reading and commenting
Hilarious and just one that happened to me as well. (more or less) When you were 17 or 18, you dumped and got dumped once things not to our liking. We could afford to do this. I appreciated those who married their college partners. (Bruce and Jean if I am not wrong)
I enjoyed reading this story, anyway !Yes, it certainly is hilarious. Thanks for reading anyway.
hummmmm, sounds very familiar. good article and great song. Thanksthanks for reading and commenting
Maybe you and she have both grown and learned.... might be worth a try - a few e-mails an't hurt that much, can they? An old friend from high school (of the boyfriend variety) found me on e-mail several years back. It was a comfort to see that we had both grown up and were happily married AND had come to the Lord also. We write occasionally and can share prayer requests. Definitely no going back is needed or wanted but it is good to know that some things do turn out RIGHT on occasion.Don't know her married name. I did look, but am not willing to spent the $ that the search sites want. Thanks for reading and commenting
Amen brother. You are writing with a different style. Such honesty and clarity. You broke my heart.thanks for reading and commenting
Another side of you in this article, interesting story.just a story about a song-thanks
Jack, excellent piece. As always. I think everyone can relate to the loss of love at an early age and how, now, we can see what schmucks we often were -- so naive and so self-centered. Thanks so much for sharing this with us and giving us all a reason to look into our pasts.Thanks so much for reading and commenting
I was on this trip with you . She was such a beautiful girl and so sweet , I thought you a very lucky boy. I'm glad to hear it continued for a while at least. I was not so fortunate with my choice on that trip and I think it was the relationships which made the journey most memorable. I enjoy your stories,, please don't stop.Thanks again- I did several about Laura Stevens--one you might like is called "Back to School, The Round About Way or something like that- I'll link it on facebook in a minute
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