Because You Loved Me

Guess I'm "losing it" after all...

Spent the last five minutes scrolling through my online files...looking for this entry. Just knew that I had written it a month or so ago and saved it for this "occasion"...an appropriate song.

The only question in my mind was whether to add a couple of other songs that had reached out and spoken to me since.

Well, since there was no previous post and since I've got to start from scratch...


I shall note up front...none of what follows has any spiritual, mystical, or just plain spooky underpinning.

On the occasion of last year's anniversary of Julie's passing, I related my "coincidental" experience with "Sad Songs". The following songs, well, they're just songs...that played on the radio during the past month.


Rachel noted in her blog the "annual" escalating sense of loss that encompasses the two-month period that begins with Julie's August 17th birthday and culminates in today.

I resemble her remarks...

One of the things that I have found to be true over the past two years is that it is, indeed, helpful to "let it out"...to open the spigot, if you will, and let the tears flow.

With that in mind, I scheduled a private viewing of three movies to create the proper atmosphere..."Ghost", "Somewhere in Time", and "The Last Place on Earth".

Relax, I'm not going to hash through the plots and subplots of the movies. This post is about music.

First up, "Unchained Melody" as performed by The Righteous Brothers and featured in "Ghost", which was one of Julie's favorite movies. (Funny..."back in the day"...I always wondered why Julie cried at the end. Figured it must be a "girl thing". Now...)

I heard this song on the radio a couple of weeks ago and it prompted the inclusion of the movie in my viewing schedule.

The lyrics...


Wikipedia claims that there may have been as many as 500 versions of that song recorded, but I've got to believe that the version sung by The Righteous Brothers takes the top prize. Without venturing into the paranormal, it's truly "haunting"...


A 1992 "Christian Contemporary" song slipped onto my easy-listening radio station the other day. I've been reminded often (most often by myself) that I am not alone. If you are blessed to live long enough, you will experience immeasurable grief...the loss of loved ones, young and old.

Accordingly, this song struck a familiar chord...



And, before I get to my real "song of the day", another "moldie oldie" reached out and grabbed me last week. Just goes to show how life events change a person's perspective...give new meaning to familiar words.

Can't say that I was ever a big Gladys Knight and the Pips fan. Oh, they had their moment and I probably even hummed a few of their tunes in my lifetime. The true test, though...I never bought one of their albums.

Today, I might just visit iTunes and download a song...



Speaking of perspective...

Besides the obvious and, oh, so true "You're the best thing that ever happened to me", the line that caught my attention...

Well, after laboring over "The Book", trying to capture the essence of Julie, I'd like to think of Julie humming along to this song and thinking of me.

My hope, my prayer, during my frequent guilt trips, is that in the final tabulation the following line rings true...


Okay, guess the above qualifies as a digression...

Didn't mean to go down that path today...intended to stay positive and simply offer up a song that I heard (again) a few weeks back...a song that says it all from my perspective, old and new.

That song is "Because You Loved Me" by Celine Dion.

A personal note...

When I Googled "Because", I discovered that although Celine Dion first released the song in 1996, it was resurrected for her five-year run at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas...a show entitled "A New Day".

That prodded the old memory banks. Seems like I remember...

Julie saw that show. (In fact, I'm pretty sure it was the last concert Julie ever attended.) I don't remember the year, probably 2006...the show closed in December 2007. Julie had occasion to go to Las Vegas on one of her trips.

Anyway...

Because Julie Loved Me, I got to hear Celine Dion LIVE, courtesy of the Verizon network. Yes, Julie called me during the concert. When I first answered the phone, all I heard was music. (Nope, I cannot tell a lie...I don't remember which song Celine was singing. Being hearing impaired, I probably couldn't make out the words. I'd like to think this was the one...) After 30 seconds or so, Julie let me know she was having time of her life...well, one of many.

I never begrudged Julie a moment of happiness...a respite from her chronic pain. A distraction if you will...

And, hey! I got the proverbial T-Shirt...

So...

Dearest Julie:

On this day that you are even more deeply in my thoughts...

I choose this song to express my undying love for you - a song you heard sung by Celine Dion in person and cared enough to share the moment with me. It captures so eloquently what you have meant to me.

My wife, my friend, my love...until we meet again, one sweet day.

Forever yours,

Ronnie