“In my most secure moments I still can’t believe
I’m spending those moments with you.
And the ground I am walking, the air that I breathe
Are shared at those moments with you.
In the songs I’ve been singing quite often a phrase
Comes close to the feeling of you.
But I never suspected that one of those days
The wish of the song would come true.” Everything that Touches You, The Association, 1968.
It is not unusual for a song to create in me an immediate feeling of ecstasy and joy. It is more unusual for me to already be in that state of mind when a song matches that feeling perfectly. Such was the case earlier today with The Association’s song "Everything that Touches You".
In the fall of 2005, at the age of 52, I entered the Dalton State College to pursue a business degree. During the years I was in music school, I always thought it was odd to be studying music at an undergraduate and graduate level instead of business or science or medicine or law or anything more academic. I excelled in music school, but I always felt like I should be doing something else. The itch to do so never left me. So in 2005 I scratched that itch. Halfway between my house and the school is a Waffle House near Tunnel Hill, Georgia. That Waffle House became my study hall. My reasoning was that I could go to the library to study and have to walk to the student center to get coffee. Or I could take up residence at the Waffle House where I could study with a bottomless cup of coffee. So that’s what I did. For four years I spent from one to three hours there nearly every day on my way to classes or to an exam. It worked really well for me and for the server too. I was always very generous in my appreciation of the time, space and effort.
As way led to way after graduation in 2009, I now work for a company that’s a stone’s throw from that Waffle House. I go there quite often. I appreciate all the servers there, but there is one who was there back in my college days so I’m especially glad to see her. And she always welcomes me by name with a friendly smile and greeting.And whichever server sees me come in has my iced tea at my favorite booth before I can sit down. I went to lunch there today.
For over ten years my wife has worked part-time for a drug store that’s just down the road from my office and this Waffle House. She was working there today. After I’d ordered my food and while I was drinking my tea and surfing the net, the phone in my hand rang. I saw it was my wife. When I told her where I was, she told me that she had gotten off early and would stop by and visit with me. That changed the whole tone of my lunch experience. I had been planning to catch up on the world situation and check Auburn football but now I had a much better reason to be there. My wife was coming to join me. We’ve been married over 42 years, but it's still a thrill to be surprised with time together like this.
When my wife showed up, my server-friend welcomed her with a friendly smile and greeting. It felt like a homecoming of sorts. I finished my sandwich as my wife finished her coffee.
After my wife left for home and I left for work, I was experiencing that “goodness of it all” feeling that I get from time to time when the clockworks of the universe seem to click in place. I just felt good all over.. I tuned my radio to XM channel 32 and “Everything that Touches You” began to play. The music was like a soundtrack for what I was seeing and feeling. I just couldn't imagine things being any better.
That experience was several hours ago. As I drove by the Waffle House on my way home from work, I noticed that it looked no different than any Waffle House. Just looking at it, there was nothing particularly special about it. It looked like an ordinary Waffle House. As I think about the serendipitous rendezvous with my wife, it was one of thousands of such get-togethers. I really don’t remember what all we talked about. And to be honest, listening to it just now, "Everything that Touches You" sounds like an ordinary 60s song. But none of this makes the experience less significant; it just makes my emotions less significant. Not every experience needs to be transcendent to be meaningful.
After consuming the delicious dinner prepared by my wife, it's hard to think I'll ever be hungry again. But tomorrow around noon I"ll probably be looking for somewhere to eat. Wouldn't it be nice to find somewhere extraordinary to eat? Well, maybe. But I'll probably just go to the Waffle House.
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