i was raised on old films and old music.
we will be in an elevator, and i will start singing along with the instrumental music playing; jaren will look at me funny and shake his head in disbelief that i know the words to a very old song, being played now, in an elevator. i love the oldies: billie holiday, ella fitzgerald, louis armstrong, those really oldies but really goodies! about a year after we got married jaren and i bought this album! we LOVED it, still do!! we listened to it again and again. every time i listen to it now, in fact, i am transported to a specific time in our life. it fills me with such nostalgia. it also reminds me of the six months we spent apart. we weren’t separated by a sad choice, but by our circumstances. i had a semester left of my student teaching and couldn’t leave the classroom or i wouldn’t get my credential and he had gotten a job and had to leave to start work. so we moved him to california and i stayed in utah to finish the year. it was agonizing!! i pined for him. ached to just feel close to him. i had felt homesickness before, but when i was away from him i understood the base root of being sick for what you know to be true “home”.
allie and hunter are away from each other right now. she has gone home (VIVA ECUADOR!!!) for a little bit and he has gone back to school for a short while (VIVA BYU!!!). there wedding is in july, but it feels, for them, like it’s still years away because of their proximity. i know. i remember. i can still feel the ache of it even though my man is just in the room, next door, sleeping audibly!! 😉
one of the songs on that album that i listened to over and over again is resonating right now as i work on these images and think about hunter and allie. i want to dedicated it to them while they are away from each other. may the lyrics bring you closer; may these images make you feel nearer to one another!! much love to you both! kj
“it’s not the pale moon that excites me
that thrills and delights me, oh no
it’s just the nearness of you
it isn’t your sweet conversation
that brings this sensation, oh no
it’s just the nearness of you
when you’re in my arms and I feel you so close to me
all my wildest dreams came true
i need no soft lights to enchant me
if you’ll only grant me the right
to hold you ever so tight
and to feel in the night the nearness of you.”