Midnight Train to Georgia

Thanks to Face book, I reconnected to an old friend in the last couple of days and he said my blogs were melancholy. So, this will be the last of this type for a while, hopefully.

I just have to get this off my chest.

As I was working my little life away today, I heard Midnight Train to Georgia by Gladys Knight and the Pips and that brought up a lot of feelings for me.

I've always loved this song and I like Gladys Knight, Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross and all those first ladies of soul.

The guy in the song had big dreams and went to Los Angeles to fulfill them. But, he didn't. After failing, he bought a train ticket and headed back home where he understood life.

This sounded familiar to me. Except my dreams were in Austin and my train was a GMC Yukon and my Georgia was Abilene, Texas. I didn't leave at midnight.

I tried. I failed. Then, I bailed out for a life I understood.

But, hey, don't feel sorry for me. I am actually enjoying myself for the most part. We miss Austin, but a move was necessary and the work is for myself.

We have a little more control over our destiny here than we did down in Austin and the owner's touch to the business was much needed.

I enjoy what I do with the business. There are plenty of other things I am enjoying such as no traffic, short drives between jobs, and the quiet of a smaller town.

Still, it's hard to fight back feelings of failure at times. I was so very close to making it to another level only to have everything ripped away. My dreams were in my grasp. I had plans on what to do next and my next level of goals and dreams were starting to form.

But, I lost and I got beaten down.

Back here in Abilene, I am regrouping and reshaping another dream.

I'm just not sure what that might exactly be yet.

But, I've always been a dreamer and that can't change.

Here are the words from the immortal Gladys:

L.A. proved too much for the man,

So he's leavin' the life he's come to know,

He said he's goin' back to find

Ooh, what's left of his world,

The world he left behindNot so long ago.

He's leaving,On that midnight train to Georgia,

And he's goin' backTo a simpler place and time.

And I'll be with himOn that midnight train to Georgia,

I'd rather live in his worldThan live without him in mine.

He kept dreamin'That someday he'd be a star.

But he sure found out the hard way

That dreams don't always come true.

So he pawned all his hopesand he even sold his old car

Bought a one way ticketTo the life he once knew,

Oh yes he did,He said he wouldBe leavin

On that midnight train to Georgia,

And he's goin' backTo a simpler place and time.

And I'll be with himOn that midnight train to Georgia,

I'd rather live in his worldThan live without him in mine.

Go, gonna board, gonna board,

Gonna board the midnight train.Gotta go, gonna boardGonna board

Gonna board the midnight train