Cherish the Love (Soundtrack of my Life)

        Several years ago a very dear friend of mine lost his wife.  She passed away during the night as they were sleeping.  They had been married for about 25 years.  It was a while after the event that I got a chance to talk with him.  He had overcome his grief for the most part--at least from the outside--but still I imagine that his wife's passing weighed heavily on his mind.

         Losing a spouse no matter what the circumstance must be a very difficult experience.  To go to bed one night and wake up during the night to discover your spouse has died would be especially traumatic to me.  My wife and I don't dwell upon the topic of death, but it does come up now and then.  I don't like thinking about it much, but the idea does cross my thoughts on occasion.

        Our own death and the losing of loved ones is one of those great what-if contemplations that hovers over all of us.  We probably should think more seriously about the subject if we haven't done so already.  Making decisions such as those related to death should not be undertaken in times of grief.

         Kool and the Gang's beautiful love song "Cherish" has crept into my awareness over the years and tends to be increasingly meaningful as the years pass.  As I grow older and see people I know losing their partners, the sadness of the situation becomes closer to home.   When my father died at age 67 in 1990, the loss to me was a strange one unlike anything I had before experienced.   Somehow I didn't fully absorb the impact it must have been on my mother to lose her partner of forty years.

         The realization of the loss of a partner had more impact on my thinking nearly twenty-five years after my father's passing.  My sister lost her husband who was 67--the same age as my father when he died--and then about a year later my step-father died after having been a wonderful partner to my mother for about sixteen years.   The fact that I was nearing the age of 67 and that death sometimes arrives unexpectedly at ones door created that deeper awareness that my days were counting down and each day has great value.

          Now I cherish my wife, my family, and my life more than ever before.   Each hearing of the song "Cherish" is that reminder to me to "cherish the love, cherish the life".    My days should be respected and treated as an investment in my happiness as well as the memories that come with the accumulation of a life history.  Our futures are mostly uncertain while our past should not be a collection of regrets and unfulfilled dreams.  What we know is the present and we should make the most of each day.   We should, but I know we don't always.  We can try though.

   
The song "Cherish" with lyrics:  


      Robin has been doing the Soundtrack of my Life posts on her blog Your Daily Dose.   I had done a few of my own "life soundtracks" on my Tossing It Out blog as well as the song series (starting at this post) I did for my 2014 Blogging from A to Z April Challenge on Wrote By Rote.  Be sure to visit and follow Your Daily Dose for more Life Soundtrack info.  

      Do you attach specific songs to certain times and aspects of your life?   How has your life been impacted by the loss of someone important in your life?   Are there any suggestions that you can offer as to the ways we can cherish our loves and lives in better ways?

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