Lift Your Heart and Sing

Music remains important to me, and many song lyrics are threaded throughout my personal journals. Sometimes what's in my heart just can't make in onto paper and I'll turn the radio on. And yes, it's country music. I sit on the couch with a candle burning nearby, and before you know it, a song comes on which offers the perfect sentiment. 

The first time I ever danced with a boy was on a Friday night at a junior high school function. The song was Sugar Shack and these many years later that tune still brings a smile to my lips. The first time I thought I was "in love" was in high school. The boy drove me home and as Brown Eyed Girl played on the radio, he turned to gently kiss me. The man I cared for in junior college convinced me to slow dance to Little Surfer Girl and I remember crying on his shoulder for no good reason. 

At my 1970 wedding Karen Carpenter's We've Only Just Begun was the song of choice. When I divorced the first husband and met the second one, he told me to listen to the song I Don't Know How to Love You from the play Jesus Christ Super Star. That's when I realized he was head over heels in love with me. Our daughter was born in 1976, and the song that said it all was Joe Cocker's You Are So Beautiful to Me. 

When I married Jim in the summer of 1990 our first dance was I Can't Help Falling in Love with You by Elvis Presley. We still dance to it in our kitchen every July 28 while the pets sit and watch. So many years; so many tears; so many songs. Music moves me. Music reminds me. Sometimes it soothes me. Sometimes it lights a fire in me. 

As I ready myself for a California vacation (I fly out in ten days and hubby stays home) I can't help but hum the tune Leaving on A Jet Plane. May your travels be safe and full of the music of life.