Sitting at my desk, I’m listening to “The Bridge”, a station on Sirius XM. Jackson Browne singing “The Pretender” comes on and I’m immediately transported back to the fall/winter of my junior year of high school in 1976.
It was a very tumultuous time for me. I had a boyfriend through my sophomore year, but we broke up in the waning days of the school year. Aww, poor me! It would have ended here, and I might have gotten over him, but I couldn’t because we continued to see each other. During the day, I would go to his house to swim. His mother was home so it wasn’t anything sneaky. But I’ll bet his friends didn’t know about it!
Silly, naive me thought we had a chance to get back together! But, in public, he had moved on from me with his group of friends, painfully one of them, who it was rumored he liked, had just made the incoming cheerleading squad!
Back to Jackson Browne!
I had moved on by fall. Ha! You obviously don’t know me very well, do you! I hoped he would ask me to Junior Prom, but no luck. Was there a possibility? I’m sure he kept my hopes alive. He went as “a friend” with someone in his group. I lived in the periphery of that group and I went with a boy that someone in that group set me up with! It was complicated with that group. I was friends with almost everyone in it, but not really included.
By prom time, I was dating someone else, that fact is important only to this story.
Christmas came around, and I hinted at and received Jackson Browne’s The Pretender album from the new boyfriend for Christmas. I wanted the album because the song “Here Come Those Tears Again”, reminded me of my old boyfriend!
In hindsight, the relationship with the original sophomore boyfriend was a match made in Hell for so many reasons! Stay tuned….
Here come those tears again
Just when I was getting over you
Just when I was going to make it through
Another night without missing you
Thinking I might just be strong enough after all
When I hear your footsteps echoing in the hall
Baby here we stand again
Where we’ve been so many times before
Even though you looked so sure
As I was watching you walking out my door
But you always walk back in like you did today
Acting like you never even went away
Well I don’t know if I can
Open up and let you in baby
Here come those tears
Here come those tears again
I can hear you telling me
How you needed to be free
And you had some things to work out alone
Now you’re standing here telling me
How you have grown
Here come those tears again
Now you’ll tell me how to hold them in
Here come those tears
Here come those tears again
Some other time baby
When I’m strong and feeling fine maybe
When I can look at you without crying
You might look like a friend of mine
But I don’t know if I can
Open up enough to let you in
Here come those tears
Here come those tears again
Walk away
I’m going back inside and turning out those lights
And I’ll be in the dark but you’ll be out of sight
Thoughts From The Passenger Seat 