It Happened After the Rain

Your mother and I met and fell in love with each other
At a Nelson concert, which is probably why our marriage collapsed

It happened during 'After the Rain'
The song, it was a song
You wouldn't know that
You weren't even alive at the time
And 'After the Rain' isn't exactly a lost classic

But it was this moment
This very specific moment
In the nineties

A decade which seemed sort of okay while we were in it
Until now, looking back, when it looks like the seventies
But without the fun outfits

Your Mom and I were at this concert
The band was called Nelson
And they were--

Oh my God, the more I think about it
The more ridiculous it seems

They were sort of like a hair band
Which was a thing back then
But they weren't really a band
More like a boy band
And they used to sell out arenas
Which just goes to show you
That a bad economy is not necessarily a bad thing
When people use their extra money
To go see a band called Nelson

I was with my friend Scotty
Yes, we were two guys
At a Nelson concert
We told ourselves they were awesome
But they were not awesome
They were not awesome at all

We also wanted to meet girls
And we did

I met your Mom
And Scotty met a girl in a Warrant t-shirt
Who dry-humped him in the backseat of my car
All the way back to Madison

Your Mom and I didn't do anything that stupid
We just made out during 'After the Rain'

It really seemed so innocent
And beautiful
And, like, personally historical
In scope and magnitude

What breaks my heart about the divorce
Isn't that it was a bad marriage
Or that things got ugly
Or the custody battle
Or any of that

What breaks my heart
Is that all those amazing moments
Just seem silly now

Like we were just totally deluded

Not just me and your mom
But everybody
That entire generation

Why didn't we know that Nelson was awful?
Why didn't we know that we looked so dumb?
Why didn't we know that kids at concerts
Shouldn't get married six months later
Just because they kissed once
During a song they liked
And it seemed poetic?

Why didn't we know any of that?

I don't know

Sometimes people are like songs

You look at them and say--

I can't believe how much I used to love this

And then, sort of quietly to yourself--

I wish I still did

I wish I still remember
How good that felt