Weekly Featured Fan Story, Chapter 1
For the next several Wednesdays, we’ll be inviting you to tell us your best Styx story on our Facebook page. After reading through a lot of funny, moving, and very heartfelt stories, this week’s featured fan story comes from Lori Gardner Child. So many blessings go to Mike and his friend for having made it back safely, and we’re incredibly humbled that “Man in the Wilderness” helped serve that purpose. Our hearts go out to the friends and family of Mike’s friend that didn’t make it. Thanks so much for staying a huge Styx fan… know that we return the fandom, Lori and Mike!
Lori Gardner Child
My husband Mike has always been a huge Styx fan. When he was young, he saved his paper route money to buy a Fender Strat just like JY's. He saw them the first time as a 13 year old on the Grand Illusion tour. (He introduced them to me when we met, and it's his fault that I'm now a HUGE fan!) Here's his story: Several years ago, he was fishing with friends on a large lake here in Utah. It was the end of October and quite cool, but a nice day when they headed out on the water. A storm came in suddenly and they were caught in 10-foot waves. The small fishing boat they were in was no match for the storm. The trolling motor was ripped off and the boat capsized. One man drowned and the other two clung to rivets on the bottom of the aluminum boat in 40 degree water for close to two hours. The waves pummeled them the entire time and Mike was very weak after just spending a week in the hospital. He said he couldn't hang on any longer and was ready to give up. Then he heard "Man In The Wilderness" in his mind, playing over and over. "Sometimes I feel like a man in the wilderness, I'm a lonely sailor lost at sea, drifting with the tide, never quite knowing why, sometimes it makes no sense at all...." And then, "I'm alive!" He knew in that moment that it was his choice to live or die. The song played over and over in his mind until they were washed up on the shore. He will still tell you to this day that Styx and that song saved his life. So grateful for Styx music, for the impact it has had on my life, and for helping to bring my husband home that fateful day.
