A tearful goodbye…
I hope I am not alone in shedding a tear today with the passing of an American treasure.
Since I was a young boy I’ve loved music. It’s been the catalyst for my mood and a place I can escape to. When I finally found Sue one song touched me deeply and reminds me of the wait, the elation I felt when I met her for the first time and saw her face. The sheer excitement in knowing your wait is over. ’At Last’ by Etta James, a beautiful song that captures the emotion of ‘knowing’ you’ve found that one person you never want to stop holding, that one person that makes you a better person, that one person who you look at each and every day and wonder what you did to be this lucky to have found heaven on earth.
Sue and I knew about looking for the right person and wondering. We had all but given up hope of finding the ‘right’ person for us. But when we finally met in December of 1999, we knew. Sue surprised me by flying into Pensacola from Los Angeles in February 2000, and we’ve been together ever since. On April 15, 2000 – I asked her to be my wife…. Over the coming years, we spent a lot of time preparing for our wedding – mostly due to our moving due to contract work – and as a result it pushed out the wedding more than once.
And then, after 10 years, 2 months and 6 days of engagement Sue and I were married on June 21st, 2010.
Etta James ‘At Last’ doesn’t begin to tell the tale of our wait, our hoping to find the right person, and the elation we felt when we finally met and knew.
At Last
My love has come along
My lonely days are over
And life is like a song
Oh yeah yeah, at last
The skies above are blue
My heart was wrapped up in clover
The night I looked at you
And I found a dream that I could speak to
A dream that I can call my own
I found a thrill to press my cheek to
A thrill that I have never known
Oh yeah yeah, and you smile, you smile
Oh, and then the spell was cast
And here we are in Heaven
For you are mine at last
We can only take solace in knowing that your pain from cancer has finally come to an end…. ‘at last’.
Goodbye Etta. Your voice will be missed, but the angels have added a beautiful voice to their choir…
