2014: SHOULD I GO FIRST - AND SHE DID

I have devoted my retirement to trying to bring uplifting, spiritual, feel good music to my many senior citizen friends. Indeed, the recently cancelled Hamilton Library program "1943: A WARTIME CHRISTMAS" was to have been a memorial to our grammar school years at Christmas time. As many of you know, I just finished my 8th summer concert series at the Kuser Farm gazebo and also on the Hamilton Library Gazebo area. No, we didn't have "SRO" standing room only crowds, but we did have just what I was looking for: those who are thirsty for just a taste of their younger years. At one of my programs this past summer, a lady wheeling a senior citizen sat on the sidelines listening to the music. I was singing that WWII heart breaker,

"I'll be seeing you in all the old familiar places, 

that this heart of mine embraces all day through.

In that small cafe, the park across the way, the children's carousel,

the chestnut tree, the wishing well.

I'll bee seeing you in every lovely summer day,

In everything that's bright and gay,

I'll always think of you that way,

I'll find you in the morning sun, and when the night is new,

I'll be looking at the moon, but I'll be seeing you.."

Even as I  write those heart-rending but beautiful lyrics with tear filled eyes, so too did this WWII hero as he covered his eyes with a Kleenex tissue.I went to him, microphone in hand, and he apologized!

He had just recently lost his wife. Apologized! I can only paraphrase what I said to the gentleman: "Sir: every one of those tears is a gift from your God. After the sacrifice you and your fellow WWII members of the "Greatest Generation" gave to us, you should know we love and appreciate you.