Tim

I heard a song today that I haven't heard in awhile. This may sound odd but my mind has this thing about assigning certain songs to certain people. I really have no control over it. The connection with this song and this person have been with me for long time. The man it reminds me of wasn't all that important to me but over the years I have come to understand the way he touched my life.

The song is 'Champagne Super Nova' by Oasis. The guys name was Tim. I went to high school with Tim for four years. I can't remember how or when we became friends, he was just there. He sat at my table for lunch everyday for four years. His dad had been my dentist but had died when I was about ten years old.

I always knew there was something different about Tim. Something about the way he carried himself. He did things for himself, never to impress anyone. I can remember when I found out he was going to become an Eagle Scout. He had never told us he was even a Boy Scout. Becoming an Eagle Scout is a huge deal that requires a tremendous commitment. Yet, in four years, he never mentioned any of it. That's how it was with Tim.


I can't remember much that Tim talked about. He wasn't shy, he just didn't waste words. What I do remember is that he seemed older than the rest of us. He was the first person I knew, that was my age, that had a real job. He delivered pizza in his faded yellow 1969 Volkswagen bug. It never occurred to me then that he had to have a job. I was clueless to the fact that, with his dad gone, Tim was the man of his house. I didn't see then that he HAD to work and make his on way. Even if I had realized it, I doubt I could have understood his situation.

After high school he went to a local state college. I saw him a few times there but like high school he never had time to hang out. He always kept his eye on the prize. I kept up with him through a mutual friend after that. First, he earned his criminal justice degree. Then he moved to Atlanta and worked some of the worst neighborhoods on the drug squad for the city police. Then that mutual friend called me one day to tell me he had just talked to the Federal Marshal Service. They needed a background check on Tim. It wasn't long before I heard he had in fact been accepted as a Federal Marshal.

A few years later the same mutual friend called me again. This time to let me know Tim had died at the young age of 36. No, he didn't die in a gun battle or even on the job. I would have been surprised if he had. That would have meant a big ceremonial funeral. It wouldn't have fit with the life Tim had lived. No, he was struck by lightning standing on a ladder he was using to repair his home. He left behind a recently married wife.

As I said, Tim wasn't a remarkable person in my life but he did leave his mark. He was the first person my age I ever saw as an adult. He was forced to become a man while the rest of us boys played. He lost his childhood and never complained. He succeeded where many would have fallen apart. Later he became an example of sacrifice, duty and obligation that I often pulled some strength from. I only wish I would have asked the question then that seems so obvious now. "Where were you Tim while we were getting high?"



How many special people change?

How many lives are living strange?
Where were you while we were getting high?
Slowly walking down the hall
Faster than a cannonball
Where were you while we were getting high?
Someday you will find me
Caught beneath the landslide
In a champagne supernova in the sky
Wake up the dawn and ask her why
A dreamer dreams, she never dies
Wipe that tear away now from your eye
Slowly walking down the hall
Faster than a cannonball
Where were you while we were getting high?
Someday you will find me
Caught beneath the landslide
In a champagne supernova in the sky
Someday you will find me
Caught beneath the landslide
In a champagne supernova
A champagne supernova 'Cuz we don't believe
That they're gonna get away from the summer
But you and I will never die
The world's still spinning around we don't know why
Why-why-why-why
How many special people change?
How many lives are living strange?
Where were you while we were getting high?
Slowly walking down the hall
Faster than a cannonball
Where were you while we were getting high?
Someday you will find me
Caught beneath the landslide
In a champagne supernova in the sky Someday you will find me
Caught beneath the landslide In a champagne supernova
A champagne supernova 'Cuz we don't believe
That they're gonna get away from the summer
But you and I will never die
The world's still spinning around we don't know why

Why-why-why-why