A Moment of Forever

Music was one of the many things I brought back into his life. The first was Johnny Cash, I don’t know how, but I just knew he would like it, turned out we were both big fans. We thought it would be a great idea to have a restaurant that played only Johnny Cash videos and music where the crowd would sing along and we would plan it out as we drove along on our many trips.

We listened to cds over and over, rediscovering old favorites and finding new ones. When I played Jackson Browne and The Pretender came on, he got a sad look in his eye and said he always thought that was him, living a life he didn’t want to live, doing what he felt he had to do ........

"Caught between the longing for love
And the struggle for the legal tender."

The music brought back all kinds of memories and feelings in him that had been forgotton or buried and along with the deep feelings we were developing for each other made him feel alive again.

"I'm going to find myself a girl
Who can show me what laughter means
And we'll fill in the missing colors
In each other's paint-by-number dreams
And then we'll put our dark glasses on
And we'll make love until our strength is gone
And when the morning light comes streaming in
We'll get up and do it again
Get it up again"

I would put my computer next to the bed at night and we would fall asleep to David Gray, Nora Jones, Tom Waits. He was so inspired that he even went out and bought a harmonica. I was so proud and happy, that he did this for himself, went out and pursued a passion of his own instead of living through other people's. He would practice while driving and was shy about playing it for me the first time, but soon it became a ritual when we were driving back at night to wherever we would have to part from.

We would put on his other favorite, Kris Kristofferson, and he would play along………

“Wa wa wa wa wa wa wa.” 

“Like to think that I could take, a drink of you and walk away but, God and I both know that it’s not true.”

“Wa wa wa wa wa wa wa.”

“For the moment I remain, a captive of the human brain, that blew itself to pieces over you.”

One night he said he wanted to play a special song, one that made him think of us, and it became the one we always listened to last. He would put his hand on my leg……….

“Was it wonderful for you, was it holy as it was for me. Did you feel the hand of destiny, that was guiding us together.”

I would lean across the center console, wrap both arms around his, and lay my head on his shoulder………..

“Come whatever happens now, ain’t it nice to know that dreams still come true. I’m so glad that I was close to you, for a moment of forever.”

He would always sing, I would always listen, and like so many other times, we would both have tears in our eyes.

“This is real, isn’t it?” I would ask him.
“It’s real,” he would answer.