Back to the Future had it all wrong. A time machine isn't something you crawl inside. Time travel can happen with a song...
Excitement electrified the air of the sorority house as girls giddily banged on the hallway doors telling everyone to go downstairs on Valentine's Day. Following them, I saw what the big deal was. About thirty guys from a fraternity were standing in our living room holding flowers or guitars.
And they sang.
They sang about someone brushing her "long brown hair," not blonde.
They sang about how she looked and how she was "wonderful."
Afterward, each guy gave each girl a rose.
Garrett stepped from behind a bunch of guys, and he was holding a bouquet of daisies.
My favorite.
He said, "I remembered you mentioned you didn't like roses. I thought these looked like something you'd like."
I'm not a rose kind of gal. At that point in my life, I was actually a bit of a snot about it. If a guy gave me a single rose, it was a one-way ticket to NotGoingOutWithHimAgainVille.
Even now, they seem so cliche. Like something a bunch of fraternity boys would take to a sorority house when serenading them on Valentine's Day.
But he remembered.
So, when I hear Wonderful Tonight, I remember how a string quartet played it at our wedding as well as that day (nineteen years ago this week) that a bunch of guys sang to a bunch of girls.
And I remember how my guy stood out from the rest.
Beautiful! Although I was an Independent in college, never pledging to any sorority, I understand the power of music and memory. After almost four decades of good starts and bad ends in the American dating labyrinth and one marriage that ended in the hottest part of Hades, I wasn't too romantic anymore. But when I met Richard deep, deep in the Ozark Mountains, on the White River, one night at a campfire musical hoedown miles from real civilization, I saw MY man for the first time as MINE. The campfire glowed on his face, long hair and beard and glowing smile, things we 50's models appreciated was lots of hair. He cut his hair, but I love his beard and love it when he does creative things with it. When he came back from being a military policeman in Europe, he had moved into a tee-pee declaring he would never cut his hair or his beard again. Well, of course, he did. But I knew I was in love that night at a musical that mountain folk here call a hoedown. We romanced under the stars and found our own mysterious secret waterfall deep in the jungles of the Ozarks. I mainly remember the starlight, as we walked together on a deserted and ascending country trail. Moonlight and starlight can still do magical things to the human heart. We fall in love again every morning when we try to be the first one to say, "I love you."
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What a beautiful story! Thanks for sharing it here.
Deleteawwwww, that is so romantic. Love it.
ReplyDeleteYeah. He was too young to know to set the bar low.
DeleteA sweet story for Max and Alexandra to hear at some point.
ReplyDeleteAwwww. I'll try to remember your aversion to roses!
ReplyDelete(I couldn't help thinking of the serenading scene in REVENANT when you described this. Garrett's version was MUCH more romantic, though!)
Maybe that's why I love that scene so much, Sonia!
DeleteThis was a fun read - I can so relate. I have an aversion to roses, too (unless they are yellow or orange) and anything pastel pink. So I was delighted when Steve kept that in mind and presented me with my first bouquet of carnations b/c I loved the fresh-spicy smell. Still do (just not in pastel pink!)
ReplyDeleteI agree about the colored roses. They can be truly beautiful. I'll have to remember that about the carnations! So sweet.
DeleteWhat a lovely story... so sweet.Your kids will love to hear that story when they get older.
ReplyDeleteI hope so.:)
DeleteBeautiful story
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