On the way to the grocery today

My husband and I were on the way to the grocery this afternoon, driving along in the van on what was a truly beautiful last day of summer, getting ready to lay down some serious cash on the food we not only find necessary to sustain life, but also keep us reasonably civilized, like Diet Coke and sugar-free jam for our bagels. And if you think I'm kidding about that, just you show up here some morning when I've reached into the fridge and discovered that the colorful box I thought was holding at least one more can of soda is actually empty.

Anyway, my husband had the radio on and one of my favorite songs started to play, a romantic little waltz-tempo piece by the Christian crossover group, Lifehouse. It's titled "You and Me" and you should read the sweet lyrics below.


"You And Me"

What day is it? And in what month?
The clock never seemed so alive
I can't keep up and I can't back down
I've been losing so much time

'Cause it's you and me and all of the people
with nothing to do,
nothing to lose

And it's you and me and all of these people
and I don't know why,
but I can't keep my eyes off of you

One of the things that I want to say
just isn't coming out right
I'm tripping on words
You've got my head spinning
I don't know where to go from here

'Cause it's you and me and all of the people
with nothing to do
nothing to prove

And it's you and me and all other people
I just don't know why,
But I can't keep my eyes off of you

There's something about you now
I can't quite figure out..

(Everything she does is beautiful
Everything she does is right)

'Cause it's you and me and all of these people
with nothing to do,
nothing to lose

And it's you and me and all other people
and I don't know why,
But I can't keep my eyes off of you and me
and all other people
with nothing to do,
and nothing to prove

It's just you and me and all other people
and I don't know why, I can't keep my eyes off of you

What day is it?

And in what month?

This clock never seemed so alive...


I've always thought of songs like this in terms of me and my husband, but today, a new thought flashed through my mind, probably because of the lilting nature of that tempo, which lends itself perfectly to a ballroom and a young woman in a long white gown with flowers in her hair, being swept around the room while the crowd stands and sighs with pleasure at the sight of them.

Meelyn.

My Meelyn in a white dress, flowing gracefully (but hopefully not the bouffant horror I was corseted and buttoned into), dancing the bride's dance with her new husband, only he's not the only one who can't take his eyes off of her. Her dad and I are watching, too.

So suddenly, I am crying and my husband, looking at me with understandable alarm, said, "What's wrong now?"

Sixteen years of marriage have taught me to ignore little things like that "now," so I told him what I was thinking.

He said, "Oh, my gosh. Stop. It. You're killing me, here. Kill. Ing. Me."

"She's just getting to be such a big girl," I said, sniffling.

"I know," he agreed, handing me a paper napkin from Hardee's. "Before we know it."

"It will be beautiful," I said staunchly. "But I think we may need a lot of champagne."