Emma’s Story is a collection of reflections that explore the memories, emotions, and moments that shaped Emma long before—and beyond—the events of Unfinished Melody. In this reflection, Emma looks back on one childhood conversation that quietly changed the way she viewed love, family and goodbyes.

The Beginning of Goodbye

I remember the day my mom told me the dinners at the McGuires’ were stopping.
She came to me. It was February 1988.
Just after Valentine’s Day.
Josh had given me a charm bracelet, a single red rose and a box of chocolates.
I gave him a box of chocolates and a card.
So when mom came to me, I was devastated when she told me.
I asked her why and she said that all the moms of the band were going on the tour with them because they were all so young.
I believed her.
Josh was the youngest, so it made sense at least for Mrs. McGuire to go.
I cried that night.

A Second Family

I would not just miss Josh.
I would miss Mrs. McGuire.
I would miss Josh’s sisters.
His brother.
His dad.
I grew close to Mrs. McGuire because she babysat me and Mitchell and at one point Molly too.
She kept us from the time my dad left until we were old enough to stay home by ourselves.
Molly had a lot of after-school activities, theater and music and she was 4 years older than me, so she wasn’t able to watch after us that much.
I loved staying there.
I loved helping her in the kitchen.
She treated me like one of her own.
And then of course, there was Josh.
I think at age two was when I started staying there along with Mitchell.
They were the same age, so it wasn’t until around age eight and ten that we started really taking notice of each other.
I always thought he was cute even before that.
And he seemed to think I was too.
Mitchell would sometimes get jealous when Josh would want to sit beside me at the table instead of him.
They were best friends.
At age ten for me, and twelve for Josh was when we started holding hands and being sort of affectionate toward each other.
There are so many memories of birthday parties, cookouts, family dinners, and vacations together.
I am thankful I still have all the pictures.

Looking Back

By fall of 1988, mom and Mitchell were getting ready to go to what she said was church service. They were dressed up so I believed them.
The part that was weird was that it was at night.
We always attended church in the morning. Usually, ten or eleven o’clock.
I thought it was weird, but mom insisted that it was something the church had recently started up.
It was also weird that she didn’t ask me to go.
When church was involved, we had to go. It was a non-negotiable.
I didn’t think a whole lot about it for a while.
Not that I didn’t want to go, necessarily, I just was glad that I didn’t have to go twice a day.
Sometimes I would go to church with Olivia.
I enjoyed that.
I enjoyed her church almost better than the church we attended so I started asking if I could go to church every Sunday with Olivia.
Mom thought that was a great idea.
She was almost too energetic about the idea.
So, every Saturday night I would spend the night with Olivia and go to church the next morning.
Then in late 1989 when I started dating Adam, I started going to his church.
All the while, mom and Mitchell were going to church twice every Sunday.
Mom was happy that I was going to church with Adam.
Again, almost too happy.
I remember thinking it was really weird.
One night, I saw them dressed a little more casual for church than normal and I asked them where they were going and she said, “church, of course.”
“Wearing that?” I had asked.
She said that church was much more casual these days.
I believed her.
But also a part of me had become suspicious.
By then, those evening church services were every other Sunday. Not every Sunday.
That was also when the dress code had changed.
Eventually the evening church services were cut down to once a month.
I saw Josh once in a while when he would come home on tour breaks.
Thanksgiving and Christmas. Even Valentine’s Day.
I saw him for the last time at Olivia’s birthday in July of 1989 prior to me dating Adam.
Every time I saw him, it was always so good.
But there was something I noticed.
He was changing.
Not just in the growing-up sense.
At the time, I thought fame was changing him.
Looking back, I think I was seeing what happens when two people who were once inseparable suddenly have very different lives.
I had been afraid the distance would change us.
I got one last kiss at Olivia’s birthday party.
I hoped he would call or write to me, but I never got a call or a letter in the mail.
He got swept into the fame and we were no more.
I was devastated once again when I realized this.
Accepted it.
Then in December of 1989, Adam came into the picture.
I figured since Josh had not reached out to me by phone or letter, I would just move on.
Obviously, he had.
Adam wasn’t a rebound guy though.
He was the one who made my heart beat again.
He was there for four years.
College scholarship for basketball across the country at Pepperdine College.
We tried to make it work after he left for college, but it was too hard.
The distance was too much.
I was starting to get a complex.
It made me not want to love anyone because everyone I seemed to love would eventually leave.
My dad.
Josh.
The rest of the McGuires.
And then Adam, even if leaving wasn’t what either of us wanted.

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