For the rest of my life

   A wonderful pianist named Bernie joined us at the Caregiver Expo last Saturday.  From early morning until mid-afternoon, the Grand Ballroom in the Herbert University Center was filled with "oldies and goodies", some classical, even some Greek renditions (especially for Toula Wootan).
   He asked me what my favorite song is and I could sing it but didn't know the name at first.  I said, "Anne Murray sang it; Rich and I danced to it, you know something about the rest of my life...".
   "I'll always remember the song they were playing, the first time we met and I knew..." as I started to sing, I remembered, the night Rich and I went to hear Anne Murray and the many times we loved to dance to that song.
   Such a romantic am I.
   So much so that on this date I am remembering some wonderful romances that I was a part of.
   One romance ended on this day in 1971.  That was the day that my mother and her sisters stood with their dad as my grandma Nesmith took her last breath.  I wasn't there.  But I have heard the stories again and again of granddaddy gathering his daughters to join him at her bedside and I 'll always remember the phone call I got that my grandma was gone.
   I had learned I was going to have a baby just 10 days before and I was so disappointed that grandma was never going to get to rock that child - who would be born a few months later on what would have been my grandma's 70th birthday.  I've always thought that to be a pretty cool deal.
   This is also a date of remembrance when I think of another romance that I was a part of.
   On May 20, 2005, my parents took a huge step when they moved in with me.  It was not an easy step for any of us.  I think it was hardest on daddy.  While he knew he needed to give up some control, it was so hard to do that to his eldest child.
   However, the next four yeas and four months were rewarding.  We thought my daddy was soon to die.  The move invigorated him.  It was a time that I will always remember.  And I will always be glad that I invited them to come.
   My grandparents shared their love and lives for 50 years; my parents for 67 years; Rich and I danced for 8 months and 4 days.
   Short time - but still "I'll always remember. . .".
   Memories are good.  However, we cannot live in the past, we cannot just keep "remembering".  
   We have to live . . .the rest of our lives.