My Forefathers

My Forefathers

Sponsored by CrisDental

https://youtu.be/mrJdSPlbcec?si=Ktu4bB7PQsIwtPLX

I’m 16 years old.

Someone told me about this new singer/song writer named Dan Fogelberg.

On the outside I’m an Aerosmith lovin’ rock and roll guy.

But on the inside there’s much more.

I bought the record album at the Mail Bag, a jeans and record store in Hillsboro, Oregon.

I took it with me to a party that night.

While the crowd was in the front room listening to rock and roll and doing things we would never tell our parents about, I was with a few friends in the backroom, putting a record needle on the album called “Souvenirs.”

The group of us sat there in awe.

We were hearing lyrics that spoke to us.

They told our story and the voice…..unbelievable.

I remember having tears in my eyes.

It was such a weird experience.

I became know as the Dan Fogelberg/Jackson Brown guy.

I played their cassette tapes until they broke.

Dan’s songs especially, told me I’d be fine and that I wasn’t odd or weird and if I was, someone else thought the same way as me.

He taught me how to write and I became a journalist.

https://youtu.be/BYbgC2vW9dk?si=lP_guBVohWKlx5ZG

I’m on a Fogelberg Facebook page.

This morning someone posted a song, by Dan, that I’d never heard before.

As I listened that same feeling came over me as my almost 65 year old self looks out over the Montana Sky again touched by his lyrics. I find tears in my eyes as this song is introduced to me the day before Fathers Day.

Dan, you are still speaking to my soul.

You have passed but your gift is left behind to touch those who’s inner soul thirsts for words to help make sense of their world.

We are all forefathers, eventually. 100 years from now my great, great grandkids will not know me they will know what I left behind in my son's....that's it. Dan, I know you no longer live on this earth but the songs, lyrics and ideas that you left behind still touch the hearts of the next generation. You are one of my Forefathers.  Thank you.