How Can I Go On?

We never listen(ed) to this enough -- perhaps my favorite singer/my favorite song.

How Can I Go On, Freddy Mercury
I have no idea how this happened, and I'm almost embarrassed to admit it, but until 2002 I had never heard of Queen. I may have heard some of their songs, but never knew the band. During the "Queen era" I was stationed overseas and simply missed a lot of good music. But I must have been really in a "bad place" not to have heard Queen.

Then, in 2002, the US Air Force sent me to northern England for a special duty assignment; it was open ended. I did not know how long I would be there. I thought my days of traveling for the Air Force were over; I was never more depressed than that summer when I left for England.

I remember checking into the inn, and turning on the television after a long flight. Wow, there was nothing on. And then, for some reason, there was some celebration, the Queen's birthday? I don't recall, but I heard Queen for the first time and was blown away. I became addicted. I could not get enough of Queen. I did not know the "back story" of Freddy Mercury. It didn't matter.

And then, the more I read about him, the more I knew about him, the more I listened to him, the more I loved Queen.

I was sent back to that remote air station in northern England several times over the course of the next two years or so. I came to love Yorkshire. The trips became life-altering events, a second, maybe my third coming of age.

And now I associate Queen with that time in northern England. 

I could listen to this, over and over, through the night.

You Called It Your Valley

It's interesting how the mind works.

So much I forget. So little I remember.

Cutting your "hedge" so you could see your beautiful valley is something I remember vividly. Four hours out of 60 years of living. Four hours.

Listen to My Heart

I took the blog off-line for a month or so. Things seemed better for a while. I felt better and thought I could take the blog off-line.

But the memories are just too strong. Not a day goes by that I'm not thinking of you.

I Don't Want To Talk About It, Rod Stewart

And so the blog is back up. 

Little Things Said in Passing

It is amazing how such little things said in passing made such a huge impression ....

... the singer "Pink"....
... Karma Chameleon ...
... hard cider ....


Did You Happen to See the Most Beautiful Girl in the World, Charlie Rich

You're the reason God made Oklahoma -- every time I drove through Oklahoma City, I thought of you -- I drove through the City at least three times a year for four years taking our younger daughter to and from college in Sioux Falls, SD (we lived in San Antonio at the time).

You're The Reason God Made Oklahoma, David Frizzell and Shelly West

I Wonder Where You Have Retired?

I assume you are pulled between your family in St Louis, and where you spent so much of your life, the Washington, DC, area.

My gut feeling is that you will end up in St Louis. I don't think you would do well retired. You would need something to keep you going. Would you continue to work at least a bit in the civilian world?

I fly much more than I ever expected I would at this point in my life. I fantasize every time passing through an air terminal that we our paths would cross. How close would our paths have to be for us to recognize each other? If close enough, who is more likely to recognize the other? First? How awkward would it be? Would I change my flight plans? Probably. Would we get into a serious discussion of options? Hopefully.

You said it would take eight years to get over a love affair. I say it ended in 2004 -- the reality, but not the love affair -- ended in 2004. Eight years means that 2012 will be the end of the memories. Perhaps for you; not for me.

Not a particularly good version, but the words, oh, the words ... time has passed us by ...

First of May, Maurice and LuLu

Three Lives, Three Loves

Three lives, three loves.

A ballroom dancer, a walker, and a fencer.

Three lives, three loves.

In 1975, I was with the love of my life and this was one of the songs that I associate with her:


Do You Know Where You Are Going To? Diana RossShe passed away, a few years ago, way too soon. She spent most of her life spent in education, becoming a physician, but I remember her first love, ballroom dancing.

They say men are the sentimental ones, growing more sentimental with age. Women are the pragmatic ones, growing even more so with age.

Do you know, do you know where you are going to? In 1975, I most definitely did not. Now, 35+ years later, I'm still not sure.

Back on Boogie Street -- No One Has Told Me Yet What Boogie Street Is For

Some years ago, not really all that long ago, I spent some time in Yorkshire, England. I was treated to some wonderful home-cooked meals while deployed with the US Air Force to a remote station.

I always helped clean up after dinner, and enjoyed washing the dishes. Once the dishes were done, I had to leave quickly ....

Whenever I hear this song, I am reminded of those wonderful, halcyon days in Yorkshire ...


Boogie Street, Leonard Cohen

O, Crown of Light, O Darkened One,

I never thought we'd meet.
You kiss my lips,
And then you're gone:
I'm back on boogie street.

A sip of wine,
A cigarette,
And then it's time to go.
I tidied up the kitchenette,
And tuned the old banjo.
I'm wanted back at the traffic jam:
They're saving me a seat.

I'm what I am
And what I am
Is back on boogie street

And, oh my love, I still recall
The pleasures that we knew;
The rivers and the waterfalls --
Wherein I bathed with you.
Bewildered by your beauty then,
I kneeled to dry your feet ...

Was it all a dream?