It's the summer of 2005 and I'm visiting a friend, someone I've known for over twenty-five years. We had a relationship once upon a time. Twice upon a time, actually. We tried again, a dozen years after that summer of '79. Love doesn't conquer all.
We're sitting on his porch; the soundtrack of our lives is coming through the screen door behind us. We talk of books we've read, movies we've seen, crazy stuff that's happening in the world. He has a whiskey coke sitting next to him. I reach over once in awhile and, with his permission, take a sip. He always offers me a drink, I always say no, and then I always reach over and take a sip from his. It's just what we've been doing for a very long time.
Crickets are chirping in the grass as the moon comes up over the pines across the road. We sit and watch it rise. Creedence Clearwater Revival is on the radio, asking again and again, "Who'll Stop the Rain?" as time marches on. In large and small increments we watch it go, like a movie we saw years before, like a book we once read in school.
Now, it's getting very late. We're way past the whiskey, and it's time for me to go. We walk quietly down the steps, across his yard, and to the gate. He's walked me to this gate more times than it's possible to count. As I walk through I turn and, at the same time, we say to each other, "Deja vu all over again."
Here's John Fogerty and his song/video, "Deja Vu All Over Again:"
http://www.youtu.be/I80W4SY3lqU
Maybe love does conquer all.
Hello Teresa:
ReplyDeleteThis is such a delicate portrayal of love, its strength, its fragility, and its power to conquer and endure. You capture so well that comfortable feeling between people who have known each other over a long period and have an understanding of each other's ways.
Perhaps, as in that famous Casablanca bar, you could 'play it one more time'......?
the best friends are those whose friendship does not need putting into words.
ReplyDeleteLovely post. "Who'll Stop the Rain?"
ReplyDeleteThat's the best sort of love, I think - not the painful burning passion of youth, but the quiet, knowing, comfortable sort based on mutual respect, friendship, shared memories and companionable silence. Thanks for sharing - and reminding me.
ReplyDeleteLove might not conquer all, but friendship surely does.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if love conquers all, but knowing someone this well is a blessing that helps life make sense.
ReplyDeleteVery poignant love story...such tender memories.
ReplyDeleteHave loved CCR for decades, too. Thanks for the deja vu.
And how goes it now? Do you still talk/see each other? A lovely description of connection, that kind that doesn't fall into any particular category.
ReplyDeleteThank you all for your thoughtful comments.
ReplyDeleteTo Jane and Lance: I don't see it playing out that way. But thank you for the sweet thought.
And to DJan: Rarely. Time marches on.
Great song and songwriter.
ReplyDeleteYour post was wonderful... takes me back to some long forgotten times... and summers of love.
You call it deja vu; I call it nostalgia. You shouldn't be alone. You need a special someone in your life right now. Where is he? I hope he comes along soon.
ReplyDeleteVery warm and charming.
ReplyDeleteFARMLADY, Thank you. Part of my remembering relates strongly to the video and John's song - how life goes on and some things don't change, including war. Summer love somehow seems tied to that in peculiar ways.
ReplyDeleteGIGIHAWAII, Perhaps a tinge of nostalgia, certainly not the sense of deja vu we are most familiar with, but it related directly to the song, which was very popular in the summer of 2005, and tied in with the evening in peculiar ways, as I mentioned above to farmlady. As far as a "special someone," I've been in one relationship or another since I was 16 and I'm appreciating this time to get to know me and stay present to my life. Someone special may or may not come along, but if/when they do I'll be better prepared than I've ever been. And they're going to have to been darn special. ;)
Steve, Thank You!
ReplyDeleteLove, sweet memories
ReplyDeleteOf a time past yet still here,
Walking down the path.
Oh sugar--what a portrait you paint here. In all our lives there is always that bittersweetness and that haunting "what if?"
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for your comment on my blog this morning. It meant a lot to me.
That there are so many hopes expressed here for that relationship to work is testament to the poignancy your writing evokes. It's a small scene you describe but your description is rich in what it contains, hums with what is not there.
ReplyDeleteThanks for letting us onto the porch, on a summer's evening, into the sharing and the parting.
PAUL, Thank you. :)
ReplyDeleteBB, Everyone has one, I think. and you are most welcome. :)
NEIGHBOR, It's getting easier, letting people onto the porch....
Just starting to catch up after a spell off line, Teresa, and here you are with this poignant post and reminder to me of a song and a time long ago.
ReplyDeleteHi Penny, I trust you're doing fine now. It's been odd, writing about this, but out it came and there it was and on it goes...
ReplyDeleteWow! I read and through you my loves were replayed; summer nights, drinks, stars, talks, friendship. This I do believe, Love makes the world go round, all we need is Love, Love lifts up where we belong...it is from Moulin Rouge, but it is a tale of love and I am a hopeless romantic with rose-colored glasses! Thanks for sharing and thanks for loving! There are people out there unwilling to take such a risk at Love...or risk it again (and again). Thank you!
ReplyDeletePaige, How lovely to hear from you! What the world needs now, is love sweet love. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you for visiting.
Perhaps the purest love we will experience is from our dog. Little wonder I call my wife, "Puppy".
ReplyDeleteYes, I believe Buddy came along to teach me the true meaning of love: unwavering, nonjudgmental, and always kind.
ReplyDeleteIt's a poignant post but the question must be asked - 'Have you ever had that feeling of deja vu, the feeling that you've lived through something before?'
ReplyDelete'Have you ever had that feeling of deja vu, the feeling that you've lived through something before?'
'Have you ever had that feeling of deja vu, the feeling that you've lived through something before?'
Sorry to be a bit frivolous, Teresa. I've had a few whisky and cokes myself tonight.
x
T
Tony, You can come over here and be frivolous anytime.
ReplyDeleteMay I have a sip? :)
Lots of stuff here. Looks nice. Not many people quote Rumi. Thanks for your encouragement. Doing a lot of pain drugs and it has been hard to write. How did you find my blog?
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting, Curmudgeon. I found you through Murr, funny lady nonpariel. I liked your comment there, so came over to see what you were about, and I stayed long enough to read several posts and had fun doing it.
ReplyDelete