Heart of Stone

It is during this time from my high school graduation until my birthday in 1978 my heart turned to stone. And, ironically as I went to write this, and looked to see when Heart of Stone from the Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes was released it was on 10/13/78, my birthday of that year. When this album and Darkness on the Edge of Town came out I would listen to both these albums side to side, over and over again. The songs made me feel sad and full of energy at the same time. I was broken up with the boy I was dating my Senior of high school and I still didn't understand what happened. He had given me a beautiful heart necklace with a diamond chip in it at graduation and just stopped calling me. I spent that summer trying to figure out what went wrong. I was signed up to attend Brookdale in September. But, conversations at the beach started to change, as my friends were going to attend college. And, once they all started leaving and saying their goodbyes, the darkness arrived in my life. I realized how much I didn't like being by myself. We all started writing to each other and that helped. But, those times listening to those two records were pretty dark. My parents were spending more time in Florida. My sister and brother were still trying to navigate being adults, and weren't home much. I had a friend and we shared rides to go to class, and we would start skipping classes. By, November of 1977 I quit school. When my parents came home for Christmas, I had to deliver the bad news. So, I had to pay them back the money they spent on that semester. I was working a lot at a popular restaurant. It didn't take too long to pay them back. I also had friends that didn't go to college and we were going out almost every night of the week. And, then we saw the movie "Mr. Goodbar". We were scared to death, and we mostly always stayed to ourselves when we went out. We would dance in a huddle. And, we would never leave one of us with someone we didn't know. But, this is when my trust, faith,love and hope really was put to the test. Little by little my heart was turning to stone. I was building a shield around me, I was becoming unapproachable. If I didn't already know you, I was not going to talk to you. Quote of the day: To say that a single human being, because of his birth, becomes an untouchable, unapproachable or invisible is to deny God. - Author: Mahatma Gandhi Song of the day: Hearts of Stone Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes written by Bruce Springsteen