Heart Sleeve— Memory Lane, the only place where you can go home again.

photo by stock.xchng

A few nights ago, I had the memory trip of a lifetime. My husband had gifted me with tickets to see Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith in concert. Now, I love Michael's work, but as it turns out- I’m a much bigger Amy fan, so… that’s where I’m headed with this post—I’m taking the Amy route to Memory Lane.

From the very first song (Everywhere I Go) I was slung into a time machine and popped back and forth all over my life (from about 1985 on).

The early stuff put me back in my pal Ariel’s room. She had one of those beds with the bookcase built into the headboard. She had a boom box, yes- a real boom box, in the middle of the bookcase and in that particular memory- I had a serious fifth grade crush. I won’t name names here, because in the age of Facebook and Google, you never know who will read this. Let’s just say, he was a pseudo-bad boy. He got in trouble a lot, but it was mostly the anti-authority thing, which I identified with but didn’t have the guts to express—so a crush was born. It helped that he was cute.

Anyhow, I’d just learned that he’d ticked “no” on the “Do you like me? Yes or No” survey, and proceeded to show all of his friends the note. Even when I explicitly noted on the survey that it was private and to be kept between us. Oh the humiliation.

So there I lay, in my pal’s bed. With Amy Grant booming above my head- and in my heart I was bellowing along and one hot tear after another slipped down my cheeks and onto the pillow.

Then there was the mid-90’s phase. Approximately midway through the nineties I met my would-be one and only and in the process of courtship- I did what any red-blooded young adult did to express her unique love for her man—I made him a mix tape, which of course, included some Amy. In fact, I titled it- To Danny, By Amy, With Love, Lynn. (You want some crackers for all that cheese, Lynn?)

I pointed this out to my romantic, but otherwise lacking in his ability to remember details like this, husband during the concert. Nudge, nudge, “that’s on one of the mix tapes I made for you.” I beam. His eyes- blank. He used to know that stuff.

Can I get a sigh here?

Then there were the post-divorce /now w/ Vince years. Those were tough for me. As an Amy fan, I hated that people were dropping her as if she were tainted goods because of it. But, I had a hard time staying loyal then because of what I’d been through.

The short version is that my parents separated & divorced when I was a teen. It was not pretty and not amicable and it tainted my view on things I couldn’t begin to imagine then. 

When someone would poo-poo Amy, I’d get defensive, but I couldn’t bring myself to fully support her by buying her music. I guess I felt my reasons for boycotting her music were better than most people’s. How’s that for self-righteous and judgmental?!

It wasn’t until I started working as a church secretary that I ended up buying one of her cd’s from that time period. I bought the Legacy cd. It was then I realized I’d misjudged her. And I fell in love with her music all over again.

There’s a line in the movie Shall We Dance that Susan Sarandon’s character says, “We need a witness to our lives. There are a billion people on the planet... I mean, what does any one life really mean? But in a marriage, you're promising to care about everything. The good things, the bad things, the terrible things, the mundane things... all of it, all of the time, every day. You're saying 'Your life will not go unnoticed because I will notice it. Your life will not go un-witnessed because I will be your witness'.” (A friend of mine reminded me of that recently and I remembered how much I loved it.) I think that’s what this connection to Amy Grant and her music has done for me. She’s been a witness (albeit, a passive one) to so many big moments in my life- at least her music has- and she’s been a cheerleader, an encourager, a commiserater, and a friend. We’ve even worshipped together (technically, that’s now true with Amy Grant, not just her music, because they did some praise songs at the concert).

When I left the concert that night, I was on cloud nine. I felt like I’d just visited with an old friend and had a blast. Laughing at the old jokes, remembering embarrassing moments, shedding a tear or few together. It was such a treat to visit Memory Lane that night.

So what about you? Is there one artist or group that has been with you (through their work) at multiple stages of your life? Do you feel that same connection to other’s art in your own life?

I dedicate this post to you my readers, by Amy, with love, from me.