Our Song Still Gets To Me

Do you and your Honey have a song? Which melody sparks in you that sweet memory of the moment it became the anthem of your connection to that human being who made your stomach do a round off at the very thought of him or her?

Songs have marked each and every relationship of any substance and/or duration in my lifetime. Since none of those relationships endured the air-pockets of life, succumbing as they did to whichever brand of turbulence challenged their survival, it surprised me this morning when I realized I could hear, hum or whistle any of them today without excessive sadness or remorse.

First Love

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Larry H. was a Big Man on Campus in my high school; football and high hurdles were his passion. He was gorgeous and worldly and two whole years older, almost a man in my sophomore eyes. We went to a drive-in movie to see Troy Donahue and Sandra Dee take their star turns in A Summer Place. He kissed me for the first time and we fell in love. We "went steady" for three years, even after he went off on an athletic scholarship to the University of Wisconsin. That's where he decided to become a two-timer, got his campus girl pregnant and broke my heart into a zillion pieces. For years, all I had to do was hear the first two or three notes of this song to have my eyes well up and my spirits dive. Not any more. Now it just makes me smile with the memory of that night in 1959 when my teenaged heart felt the quickening that signaled the arrival of First Love.

First Marriage

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Bradley Carr was introduced to me by my co-worker, only weeks after I moved to Milwaukee and started my first real job out of college at A. O. Smith Corporation. Standing 6'4" with a dazzling smile and enough charm to whip a cobra into shape, Brad swept me off my feet. Roberta Flack's song was probably number one on the charts at the time and it became Our Song. When we were married on December 17, 1966, it was the music for our first dance. But Brad was all too willing to spread his charm around, even while married. My stupendous son is the best and only thing that remains of the union, except when I hear the intro to "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face." My reaction always reminds me that I was truly in love with my son's late father. That makes Steve very happy.

First Giant Leap of Faith

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T.B. was a co-worker and friend at the office. I had been a single Mom for seven years by the time we met, and I was convinced that marriage and I were incompatible. We worked together on projects and went out to lunch frequently with other members of the team. Everybody in the office seemed to be aware that we were falling in love except me. I was both shocked and thrilled when he let me in on his feelings. We both love Barbra Streisand and waited hopefully for the announcement that Our Song, "Evergreen" had won an Academy Award. It was the song I walked down the aisle with when I threw caution to the wind and married him on February 18, 1978. The failure of this relationship nearly put me in my grave, and this song for years had the ability to send me back into the chasm of depression I suffered when it ended. Currently, it makes me mostly glad to remember how much I felt loved at the time it was playing for Us.

Happy Valentine's Day

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