… Lucille
and out of nowhere there it was again … grief.
The death of Kenny Rogers, the playing of his songs, brought grief back, in a flood of emotions and memories.
Grief does not have a lifespan, an expiry date. It does not respect the comfortability of others. It is something one learns to live with, knowing that, at any moment and for no apparent reason, it resurfaces with pent up energy and emotion … developing into tears and the loneliness for one who is gone.
At a certain stage in my dad’s life, Kenny Rogers (before Kenny’s facial plastic surgery) was his doppelganger. It just so happened that my dad also loved his music. He would sing along, attempting to duplicate Kenny’s distinctive husky voice.
My dad loved to sing. One of my memories of eye-rolling as a kid (along with the plaid shorts and the socks that went up to the knees … with the plaid shorts) was how my dad would finish our sentences with lyrics from songs.
It would go like this:
Mom: Don’t count your dirty money at the table …
Dad: They’ll be time enough for counting, when the dealings done
Mom: I was talking to Aunt Ruby this morning …
Dad: Ruby, don’t take your love to town
I have a sweet colleague at work who does this too … I think she might think I am making fun of her when she does it and I point it out, but I love that she does it for it always makes me think of my dad, makes me smile fondly.
It was hearing Roger’s song Lucille that really brought grief to the forefront. It was the words, you picked a fine to leave me, Lucille that did it.
Those of us who loved him are probably all feeling like you picked a fine to leave … We have stuff in our lives that … make us miss him more, lately. We miss him all over again.
At his funeral was a slideshow of photos from his life, our lives. One of the songs that played was Kenny Roger’s singing I will remember you …
Dad, I know I am not alone in saying you picked a fine to leave … I miss you all over again …
You decorated my life
Created a world
Where dreams are a part
And you decorated my life
By paintin’ your love
All over my heart
You decorated my life
itsawonderfilledlife 
So sad to hear, love his songs to this day I play “the gambler”, will the world consumed with the virus, I have not been paying a lot of attention to many other things.
I love them too. I think we are all consumed with the news these days. May you and yours be safe and healthy at home.
Carole
Thank you so much and echoes my wish to you and yours as well.
❤
Thanks for sharing such wonderful memories of your dad…
Thank you Esther. This grief thing just comes on in a rush at times. I’ve decided to let it roll over me and remember what I miss about him.
Carole
Aw, I loved his songs, too. His “greatest hits” take me back to a very special time in my life.
I quote songs in everyday conversations, too, though not always out loud. Like when I see an acquaintance named Andy Vine, I always think of a song we sing at church – “Oh, how strange and divine (Andy Vine), I can sing, ‘All is mine!’ … ” 😀
Music holds our memories so close to our hears. The Greatest Hits one is one I remember hearing around the house often, as a teen.
Carole