The Waitress

She was the daughter of a waitress and a waitress she would be
Working at a diner off of Highway 43
She had the kind of childhood that cannot be erased
Growing up I guess you’d say she had a lot of space

Summer after sixth grade, the first time I saw her drunk
By the time we got to high school she’d moved on to harder stuff

I remember smoking cigarettes when smoking still seemed cool
Hiding from our parents, hanging out by someone’s pool
After graduation I suppose we just lost touch
The truth is our situations didn’t overlap that much 

We knew it back then and we still know it now
We don’t know the why, but we know the how
If you’re gonna love someone, love ‘em with all that you’ve got
If you’re gonna be somebody, don’t be a person you’re not

She was a waitress who taught me to kiss
She will be missed, class is dismissed 
Now go, class is dismissed, now go

She became a mix tape that only had one song
“The Joker” by Steve Miller, I could play it all night long
When she moved to California it was like it always is 
Running from your problems but your problems know you hid

We knew it back then and we still know it now
We don’t know the why but we know the how

She was a waitress who taught me to kiss
She will be missed, class is dismissed 
Now go, class is dismissed, now go

She moved back to two towns over from where we had grown up
And began a whole new life of prescription meds and stuff
I heard she lost the baby and I always meant to call
But I never got around to it with schedules and all

Rest easy now honey, there’s nothing more for you to do
The snakes have all loosened their grip on you
We knew it back then and we still know it now
We won’t know the why, but we’ll know the how

She was a waitress, who taught me to kiss
If heaven exists, class is dismissed
Now go, you will be missed
Go play “The Joker” over and over, over and over, over and over, go
You will be missed, now go