Most of his life Chad Bayles had been the consummate “player”.  He lived his life like each day was his last.  He was outgoing, gregarious, witty, and most people liked him.  He had a great budding career in music going for him and he fed off crowd adulation.  He truly loved what he did and loved entertaining the people who came to hear him sing and play guitar.

            In 1976, his world was rocked by that one person he would come to never forget.  She was sitting in the second row at a table with her girlfriend having a drink and listening to Chad sing.  Chad hadn’t noticed her and was singing a pretty ballad…a John Denver song called, “My Sweet Lady”.  He had put more into the song that night than he usually did.  As he sang the lyrics, he kept his eyes closed, feeling every word of each verse.  The audience felt it, too, as they started to applaud just before the song ended. 

            Chad opened his eyes, smiled and the girl in the second row smiled slightly and locked eyes with him.  He was stunned.  He had never seen anyone so beautiful.  She had long blonde hair, blue eyes and a smile that could melt ice.  She had a gentle look about her and calmness in her smile he rarely saw in people in the audience.  He knew at that moment she was all he would ever want or need.  She had captured his heart and they hadn’t even spoken a word to one another.

            For the next two years Chad Bayles and Sara Anders fell deeply in love with each other and became engaged to be married.  Then as quickly as it had started, it was over.  They said their goodbyes and for thirty years neither one knew what the other was doing or what had become of each other’s lives.

            Have you ever thought of what it would be like to hear that “special” someone’s voice after more than thirty years?  Not just anyone’s voice but the voice of the person you once considered the love of your life...that one special person who drifted in and out of your thoughts with frequent regularity over the years.  That one special someone who inspired your creativity, made you smile, made you cry, and made you feel like you were the only person who mattered in their world.  “Stuff” happened and each of your lives goes separate ways for three decades.  To say the least, seeing that person again would certainly be the proverbial long shot. 

            Then as if nothing ever happened, you find yourself face to face, locked in a warm embrace feeling the soft lips of love that sent tremors throughout your body and seared the inner depths of your heart and soul, just as they did so many years ago.  It’s hard to fight but makes surrender easy once again.

            Chad Bayles didn’t have to wonder anymore and what a beautiful journey it became.