Take the highway

 Lord knows I've been gone too long

Lot of sad days
One day you'll turn around and I'll be gone (Toy Caldwell+ Marshal Tucker)

music has always played a significant role in my life.........lyrics.........words and music....i don't think i could survive in a world without tunes......perhaps i am guilty of assigning too much significance to songs......searching for the right song at the right moment......believing in some outside forces to provide the soundtrack to monumental events....or creating them altogether.....

i spent an emotional few days in the Garden State......i spent 4 straight Christmas Days away from home in the late 1980's......Diego Garcia, onboard the USS Luce at sea or in Jacksonville Fla.......i always volunteered to work on Christmas day while we were on the ship.....so that the guys with families could have off to spend the day at home with the spouse and kids.....but when you are 20 you have your whole life ahead of you......so i was always fine........this year felt different and i had to come home for a short spell......and i am glad i did.......but traveling is exhausting and in 2025 very depressing........I found myself in the lobby of the Hotel Ballast in Wilmington NC awaiting an uber......the hotel was tuned to Sirius Southern Rock station and the GEM, GEM of a song referenced at the opening came on.

so much emotion tied to the Southern Rock titans for me.....Skynyrd, the Outlaws and the Caldwell Bro's and Marshal Tucker......ive listened to Take the highway 2,000 times.....but it never hit me in the gut like it did this week.....the beauty of music is that we can't always explain how or why it hits.....but when it does you feel no pain (as Mr Marley told us) .......i sat there immersed in the musical interlude , and although i saw my driver arrive.....i didn't leave the lobby until the song was over....

I'll be back someday
But darling, please don't wait for me too long
There's just one place I can't stay
Memories of your love still lingers on

And the time has finally come
For me to pack my bags and walk away
Make me stay