Spinning Empty Bottles

During my Junior year of high school a lot of things happened. I was sick all the time, and missed a lot of school because of it. Some of my friendships dissipated during this time, some remained the same, some became stronger, and a few new friends came into my life. Over the next year and a half some of those friendships grew immensely, and as we all filtered off to our respective colleges, the transformation to life post-high school life didn't change the way we were. A little while after writing the All for One, during the same summer, I was driving around my hometown and thinking about all the things that had changed and all the things that hadn't changed since highschool. Reminiscing, I started to think about Maggie. Maggie is not a person, but a car. My friend Dereks shitty, banged up, green Mitsubishi Galant, to be exact. So much of the time my friends and I spent together both during and after high school (up until she was sold last summer) took place in little old Maggie. Whether we were driving somewhere specific, our simply cruising around with no destination in mind one thing was certain we were listening to music. We had our own little soundtrack. When one of us was sad, or we needed a good cry, we'd listen to 'When the rain comes' by Third Day. When we wanted to reflect on our friendships and scream at the top of our lungs we would listen to "White Houses" or "Who's to Say" by Vanessa Carlton.... Whatever mood we were in we had a song for it. And those songs remain some of my favorites.

Anyhow. So while I was driving and reflecting and probably not paying enough attention to the road while doing so, the line 'driving around in my friends old mitsubishi, singing along to the radio..' came into my head. The rest of the song came easily after that, and in the end I had a song that desribed those friends and those times. It's one of my favorites.

In My Heart (My friends old Mitsubishi)

Life was so simple just those few years ago
But little did we know
We were carrying the weight of the world
On our shoulders
As we grew older and life began its wear and tear
We started to realize
Just how easy everything was
Just those few years ago

When we were driving around
In my friends old Mitsubishi
Screaming along to the radio
We dreamed big dreams
And we wished upon the stars
And those are the times that live on
In my heart
In my heart
In my heart…

The laughter still rings in my ears
I find myself having the same old fears
It feels like the whole world is speeding past me..
And I’m still 16
An Endless road before me
Great expectations have appeared
As the pressure takes its toll
I sit back and think about those few great years

When we were driving around
In my friends old Mitsubishi
Screaming along to the radio
We dreamed big dreams
And we wished upon the stars
And those are the times that live on
In my heart
In my heart
In my heart…

We made promises
Most of which we did not keep
We laughed until we cried
The future seemed so bright
We went our separate ways
Promising never to forget
But somewhere along the road
Those days began to fade
Somewhere along the road

I try to think back
Back to the times
When I felt so at peace
On thing comes to mind
So I’m singing this song in memory of that

When we were driving around
In my friends old Mitsubishi
Screaming along to the radio
We dreamed big dreams
And we wished upon the stars
And those are the times that live on
In my heart
In my heart
In my heart…


When we were just drivin’ around…..
© Blythe Ann Johnson 2009