“Show me how you do that trick
The one that makes me scream” she said
“The one that makes me laugh” she said
And threw her arms around my neck
“Show me how you do it
And I promise you I promise that
I’ll run away with you
I’ll run away with you”
The Cure
*Go get some tissues. This could get all romantic and shit. You’ve been warned.
First things first. I am NOT showing you how to do that trick. That knowledge is golden and it’s all mine. Suffice it to say that it is pretty amazing and if you were to ever pry it from my brain, you could sell it on an infomercial and make all kinds of scratch!
Forget Air Supply, Lionel Richie, Journey and all that other 80’s douche-baggery. Just Like Heaven is the quintessential 80’s love song. Why? Because this is my blog and I say so, that’s why! Those other bands were OK, but they couldn’t compare to the coolness of The Cure. KROQ didn’t play that other garbage, so why was it worth a dam? It wasn’t. That’s my point.
I will not admit to sitting in my room in 1981 or 1982 and crying as I listened to Air Supply because some girl (who’s name I seriously can’t remember) wouldn’t go out with me. I don’t think she is one of my Facebook friends from my VC days, but if she is I’d like to tell her that I totally forgive her for ripping out my heart and stomping on it. All is forgiven and shit.
I will not admit to being a bit of a whiny douche back in the early 1980’s. I did, however, admit to losing my virginity in a cornfield in the fall of 1984 with The Pork Queen, so you may have already deduced that I was not smooth with the ladies when I was in high school. Sigh.
I fully believe that things happen in our lives to get us to the point we are today and that those things guide us towards our future. I’m not saying that the course of our lives is predestined, because if that were true we would just sit back, throw life on autopilot and wait for the inevitable.
I met and married Baby Mama and after 6 years we had Drama Queen. Five years after that we filed for divorce. Why isn’t important to this particular story, but suffice it to say that she wasn’t a big part of our daughter’s life for several years.
Years would go by without a phone call or visit, but I’m happy to say that she’s gotten things back together and is actually spending a bit of time with her daughter this summer while Drama Queen visits my mom in So. Cal.
In the eight years since we broke up I’ve had several relationships and they’ve each helped shape me into the person I am now. Some of these people you’ve either read about or will read about one day. Two you will never read about, simply because I would prefer to push those memories back and forget they ever happened. No biggie. It’s just the way it is.
A few years back I had a pretty serious health problem that still bothers me from time to time, but for the most part it’s under control. That changed the way I look at life, as did my nearly having a stroke when my blood pressure shot up to 265/159. For the record, this is NOT the “get a tissue out” part of the story.
I worked for a number of years as a full-time freelance writer and I have over 30 different magazines and newspapers I’ve written for in the U.S., Canada and Europe. The money wasn’t outstanding, but I enjoyed what I did and I got to visit some very cool places and interview some very cool people along the way.
I started doing some radio guest spots as a hockey “expert” and I parlayed that into a gig hosting a couple radio shows on a small station in Long Beach, CA. I did a humorous talk show, which I LOVED, and I was half of the top-rated sports show in the history of the station. I loved that not because I dig sports (which I do) but rather because my co-host had the knowledge and I could bring my own brand of attitude.
Here’s a perfect example of how we worked—One year Wes ran down the entire first round of the NFL draft without any notes in front of him. He went in order and named the team, player, position and where he went to college. Dude is freakin brilliant!
In contrast, my stories usually started off something like this, “You remember like five years ago some guy scored that big goal to send his team to the Stanley Cup Finals?” It doesn’t have quite the same impact, I know. We had our final show this past May, but we’re talking about starting up a podcast while we look for our next gig. HERE is a link to our website, but I warn you that it has been neither updated nor cleaned up in several months. I apologize.
What do these few paragraphs have to do with The Cure? Nothing really. I forgot to tell you that on our radio commercials we were billed as follows, “Wes is the 5’10” sports encyclopedia and J.R. is the 6 foot distractible bald dude.” Now you see why we said that.
Back to the story….
In late 2008 I was offered a job hosting a morning show on a brand new radio station in suburban Toronto. I was to be J.R. In The Morning and was to be the color analyst for hockey broadcasts in addition to my morning show duties.
The short version of the story is that the station finally went on the air in the spring of 2010, long after Immigration Canada and I got tired of waiting around. I have friends from Buffalo and I opted to move there rather than back to the crazy cost of living in So. Cal. (After being on the air for only a few months, they went off the air. Karma bitch!!!)
Follow along with me because this is where it starts to get good…
If I hadn’t taken that non-existent job in Canada I never would have ended up in Buffalo. If I didn’t end up in Buffalo I never would have met with the editor for a new website, www.skunkpost.com. If I never met with him we never would have discussed doing this blog and linking it from their site. If I never started this blog, I never would have started checking out other daddy blogs and mommy blogs, nor would I have gotten heavily involved with Twitter to promote it.
If I never wrote this blog and got involved with Twitter, I never would have checked out a blog called Single Mom Survives. If I never commented on that blog, she never would have known that I existed and we never would have become Twitter buddies.
If we never became Twitter and blogger friends we never would have started flirting a bit. If we never started flirting we never would have had some very cool, very long phone conversations with each other. If we never had those long phone conversations we never would have had our Skype dates. If we never had our Skype dates she never would have come to Buffalo to meet me in person.
If she never met me in person there is absolutely no way that I could have ever fallen for The Blogger Hottie.
See what I mean about everything for a reason? I left a radio show that I loved to take a job in another country that never panned out. I’m not doing radio right now, which totally bums me out because radio and writing are all I have ever wanted to do and quite frankly are the two things that I am really good at.
As crappy as all that is, it landed me The Blogger Hottie and the reality is that I would do every bit of it over again as long as I knew that I would end up with her.
You
Soft and only
You
Lost and lonely
You
Just like heaven
J.R.
P.S. Those last six paragraphs were the part you might have needed the tissues for…
jr, dude, you’ve nailed the music this week! “just like heaven” has to be in the top 10 ever along with… “forever live and die” omd “everybody want’s to rule the world” tears for fears “in between days” the cure “goodbye, goodbye” oingo boingo • the world’s best encore song from the halloween shows “since yesterday” strawberry switchblade “up the down escalator” the chameleons uk “the one thing” inxs “tenderness” general public “i want candy” bow wow wow the list could go on since i have 1642 songs on my iTunes 80’s playlist. plus almost anything by madness, the specials,… Read more »
Ty, you are absolutely right on with your entire play list and about all the spots you listed. My grandma was in Seizure World for a long time and I remember riding my bike through the gate to visit her. I’m not sure if you saw it, but check out my R.E.M. Losing My religion post. You may find it especially interesting considering your profession…
Great Blog! I recently fell in love with the song “God Bless the Broken Road” I have it sung by four Army soldiers. It is on a fund raiseing CD called “For the Troops”. No offense to Rascall but they are awesome. I have had the CD sometime and enjoyed it but never really LISTENED to the words. Along with finally hearing the words and hoping that I am at the end of my broken road…I have fallen in love with an Army helicopter pilot who is deployed. I met him while he was deployed and I coincidently just took… Read more »
Very cool story! Fingers crossed….
JR
I absolutely LOVE that song!! When I started to read this post, I began to hear the piano playing in the background of my mind!! I love it, love it, love it!
DQ and Baby Mama are visitng?? That is good! I hope she enjoys the visit!
Keep it real with the Hottie— the Blogger Hottie!!
Just remember half way from Chi-town to B-Lo is AK-rowdy!! Come on down!
Hugs! Have a great visit this weekend!!
Rowing Chick
JR
I absolutely LOVE that song!! When I started to read this post, I began to hear the piano playing in the background of my mind!! I kove it, love it, love it!
DQ and Baby Mama are visitng?? That is good! I hope she enjoys the visit!
Keep it real with the Hottie, the Blogger Hottie!!
Just remember half way from Chi-town to B-Lo is AK-rowdy!! C
awe. that was all sweet and mushy and shit! dayum i miss the pre-marriage days ;). AND the cure days. you just made me dig out from the clutter i call an office an awesome KROQ mix!
I call seconds on that!!!!! I talked with Drama Queen last night and she said her mom picked her up for a bit and they rolled out to the 909 for a bit…
Ok that deserves one big giant AW from me.
You are all soft and shit. I love it. And for the record, your relationship beginnings sound just like mine with my long distance sweetie. For that, I’m sending ya’ll some big time high fives and booty bumps that this road continues…
LDR’s are tough but man, when you’ve found someone that you could talk to for hours, it’s so worth it.
Beautifully done, JR. I too believe that every turn or path you take out of instinct is a path that you are meant to experience. Cheers to you and Blogger Hottie!! **With my can of PBR of course** 😉
Ah… you really are an old softie.
Ssssshhhhhhhh! Keep it quiet. I have a reputation to uphold. But, you’re kinda right. I’m kind of like an M & M–hard on the outside but sweet on the inside. And shit…
You and I both know I have my own similar chain of events that brought us to this place we are now. God bless the broken road. And yes, I have completely fallen for you too. You will get the biggest kiss when I get there on Wednesday. Among other things… but I’m keeping it clean. Don’t want any awkward comments left by my dad. 😉
xoxo,
me
XOXO baby! I will accept that kiss with open, uh, mouth!