My Heart Never Forgot
🎵 “You Are The Reason” – Calum Scott
This song says everything my heart has carried for nearly thirty years.
I’ve crossed every ocean. I stood on the shores of the Indian Ocean in Fremantle, Western Australia, and I climbed to the top of Germany’s tallest mountain — the Zugspitze. Through every mile and every breathtaking view, one truth remained constant in my heart.
She was always the reason.
Even after all my mistakes, my heart never forgot her. I want nothing more than to fix what I broke — to sit across from her, look into her eyes, and finally show her the man I’ve become.
But I’ve also learned that love cannot be forced. What will be… will be.
This song is my heart, laid bare.
She was the pretty girl from band class — the one whose birthday falls exactly one week after mine. Even as a shy boy at Grandview Middle School, she quietly stole a piece of my heart that I never got back.
In 2020, we reconnected. For nearly two years she told me how much she loved hearing my stories from traveling the world. Those conversations still live deep in my soul.
But I made mistakes. I pushed too hard and didn’t listen the way I should have. When she told me to leave her alone, she was right. I respected her wishes and stepped back.
Even then, I could never hate her.
Before I went public with any of this, I made sure to reach out to her privately first. When I had my moment in Capital One Arena with the President and First Lady — a moment later validated by two official letters from the White House — the very first person I wanted to tell wasn’t my family or friends.
It was her.
I wanted the pretty girl from my childhood to know that I was sorry for the mistakes I made, and that I had made American history before the rest of the world knew. Even if she never spoke to me again, I needed her to hear it from me first.
I’ve faced my own demons and worked to clean up my past. Still, I went out and loved America with everything I had. That love led to standing in Capital One Arena as the President and First Lady pointed directly at me on live television.
Jesus stands between us in this image as a reminder that if He can forgive us, we can forgive one another. “As I have forgiven you, so you must forgive one another.” (John 13:34)
In my 34 years, I’ve never had a real first date. I’ve never had someone truly want to know my heart.
But if the President and First Lady of the United States can turn around and respond to my voice… then I know the right woman will one day want to sit across from me, look into my eyes, and discover the man I’ve become.
The same shy boy from band class is still here — with his heart wide open, ready for the woman who’s meant to hold it.
I got the biggest moment of my life…
and the only person I wanted to tell… was her.
