Life Happened

From the time she was thirteen
Julie Thompson had a dream
That someday she would see her name in lights
And after every high school play
The grown-ups all would say
That Julie's future sure was looking bright

Well, I saw her selling videos
At a store in Eastland Mall
I said, why aren't you in Hollywood taking casting calls
And she handed me my change
And started laughing

And said
Life happened
Me and Bobby Chaplain fell in love
Daddy passed away and the babies came
And drama school was just too much

Now there's little league
And mouths to feed
And I directed the kindergarten Christmas pageant
Life happened

Curtis had an old Chevelle
The cops knew that car well
He never lost a race on Windy Hollow road
By the time he turned eighteen
He was a Georgia dirt track king
Proudly sponsored by the local Texaco

I bumped into him at Murphy's bar
And he ordered us a round
I said, why aren't you in Rockingham chasing Gordon down
He killed his drink and tore the corners off his napkin

And said
Life happened
I was driving home from Athens late one night
A trucker fell asleep and swapped paint with me
Said I rolled that 'velle at least five times

Now I thank my stars
And I sell used cars
And I teach driver's education at St. Catherine's
Yeah, life happened

I saw the rest of my old friends
At our reunion at the Holiday Inn
And it seemed like it was only yesterday
Standing in the gym in our cap and gown
Full of wonderlust and glory bound

We set out to chase our dreams
On wings of passion
But somewhere along the way
We got distracted
Life happened

Our clothes went out of fashion with our songs
We started families and bought SUV's
Became step-dads and soccer moms
I finally realized
We turned alright
And we spent the night just catching up and dancing
And life happened