I Miss You, Joey

I don’t know if Joey loved that movie like I did.  She never said.  But she knew I loved it, and she proudly let me call her ‘my Jenny’ and quote lines from the film to her endlessly over the last 14 years.  She thought it was sweet.  And it was I guess.  But the truth is, it was more than that for me.  We all need people to look up to… people who can inspire us to be better people.  And since I didn’t have a grandfather or father or anyone else to watch and listen to for some of those things

… Forrest taught me.  

Yes, I know he’s not real, but in another way, he is as real as anyone I’ve ever known.  When you watch a movie and you leave the theater, all you take with you is the memory of what you saw and what you heard.  And in life, when someone special impacts you… all you are really left with is the memory of what you saw them do and what you heard them say.  So for me, Forrest showed me how to keep a sense of innocence and light in a world that just grows darker and more cynical every day.  And he seemed to only see the good in people… especially in Jenny.  Though I saw Forrest Gump in a movie theater in Texas eight years before I ever met Joey… I wanted to love someone like that.

And so God sent me my own Jenny.  And we got married and it was beautiful, just like the movie.


But then Jenny got sick.

And Forrest didn’t understand why.

And Jenny helped him through it as he stayed by her bedside.

And the Jenny left him little Forrest so he wouldn’t have to be alone.

And he stood alone beside a stone beneath a tree and he talked to Jenny.

And he told her all about little Forrest and his school and how smart he is and how she would be so proud of him.


And then the movie ended so I don’t know what happened after that.  But I believe that Forrest was okay.  And though his love for Jenny never faded, the pain of losing her lessoned.

In Time.  All in God’s time.

…I miss you Joey.  You would be so proud of our little Indiana.

(by Rory Feek. Half of a husband-wife duet who attained national fame, and who appeared on The Gaithers. Joey contracted cancer and after a hard-fought battle recently passed away. This excerpt is from Rory’s internet blog)