I was in Las Vegas for the opening residency shows of Skid Row/Scorpions and Foreigner when I woke to the devastating news that Taylor Hawkins, who for over 20 years was the drummer for the Foo Fighters, had passed away at age 50 during a South American tour with the band. Like the rest of the world, I was shocked and deeply saddened. While in Vegas, it was impossible to escape the constant chatter about the situation; every time I hopped onto an elevator or stood in a line, people were sharing their thoughts. My eyes were constantly watering with tears and I had to duck into a shop to purchase tissues more than once.
I thought a lot about how this kind of loss affects people, and particularly how it was going to affect Dave Grohl. Hawkins and Grohl were extremely tight and had a very special bond, both on and off the stage.
In Dave Grohl's 2021 book The Storyteller, he stated about his relationship with Hawkins, "Upon first meeting, our bond was immediate and we grew closer with every day, every song, every note that we played together. We are absolutely meant to be and I am grateful that we found each other in this lifetime."
Grohl also shared, “I am not afraid to say that our chance meeting was a kind of love at first sight, igniting a musical 'twin flame' that still burns to this day. Together, we have become an unstoppable duo, onstage and off, in pursuit of any and all adventure that we can find.”
It is my spiritual belief that each of us has a soul family or soul tribe to which we are assigned, and it is with these soulmates that we make contracts before we come into the physical form of a human body. The purpose of these contracts is to push ourselves, and our soulmates, to grow and evolve through learning life lessons. Each lifetime (yes, I'm talking about reincarnation here because I believe the soul is eternal) is an opportunity to resolve past-life karma and complete soul contracts, learn difficult lessons, and evolve. The labels that our soul tribe members carry vary from lifetime to lifetime. In one lifetime your father may be just that--your father--and in a next lifetime your father may be your favorite school teacher or best friend. The label of the role is far inferior in importance to the emotional significance that that person plays in your life and vice-versa.
Just as Dave Grohl reflects about his unique relationship with Taylor Hawkins, we've all met people to whom we were instantly attracted and felt an inexplicable connection. This is because these people are in our soul tribe and thus are our soulmates. We have shared past life experiences with them, and we were meant to meet up with them in this lifetime to continue our work together. Sometimes these people are with us most of our lives (like a sibling) and at other times these individuals conjoin with us for a shorter period (like a lover) before we go our separate ways. Some of these soul contracts are very significant, such as the ones between spouses or between parents and children, while others are less intense. Regardless, the goal is always the same...to learn from our relationship with these soul family members, evolve, and ultimately elevate, which in turn makes the world a better place.
I also ascribe to the belief that we reincarnate as different genders, races, sexual orientations, etc. each lifetime, which is why discrimination has no place in our world. If you are a racist or homophobe in this lifetime, then you need to shape the f*** up because otherwise you most likely are coming back in the next life as a homosexual with the skin color of that race which you fear in order to be taught the hardship of discrimination.
It is also my feeling that if you have an inexplicable fascination with, longing for, or irrational fear of a certain place, activity, object, etc, it may be because you experienced this thing in past lives. For example, I have a totally neurotic, irrational fear of rats despite the fact that I've never had an up-close-and-personal experience with these rodents. A friend of mine jokes that I was trapped in the hull of a ship with rats and contracted the bubonic plague in a past life, and I think he's spot-on because there is no rational explanation for my intense fear of the vermin.
It goes without question that Grohl and Hawkins are from the same soul tribe and have a soul contract with each other. They also lived past lives together, which is why it was love at first sight (Grohl's words) when they met; their souls recognized each other and were happy to reconnect. Additionally, the bandmates learned lessons from each other through the years and pushed each other to excel creatively.
My guess is that Dave Grohl will be guided onto an emotional/spiritual journey, or make a major professional and/or personal change in his life due to the loss of Taylor Hawkins. A significant loss or hardship is typically the catalyst for self-reflection and major life change because we're less likely to upset the status quo when things are going smoothly in our lives.
Regardless, Hawkins is still by Grohl's side every day guiding his soulmate along his intended path and supporting him in learning his life lessons. And when Grohl finally leaves this earth, far off in the future, Hawkins will be waiting to reunite with him and the two soulmates will plan their next life's adventures.