Using Songs

Using Songs

SONGS TO CELEBRATE

submitted by: Dan Rock

 

romantic-tahiti-beach-dating-romantic-honeymoon-marriage-with-song-ideaCards, unexpected gifts, music, and poetry… over the two years of our courtship leading to our recent marriage on March 17, music has been one of the key ways of expressing, emphasizing, and reinforcing my love for Kym. I’ve given Kym probably close to 30 “songs” during this period. Usually, I’ll cut a piece of paper that fits inside of the cover of a CD and write on it which track(s) to play.

There was the time that I asked her to date me exclusively shortly after we met. I knew that her favorite artist is Trisha Yearwood. I found the Hope Floats album that contains a song by Garth Brooks and a duplicate, shorter version by Trisha that spells out to what lengths I’d be willing to go to to make her feel the love that I offer to her. She had every song by Trisha except this one and I made my point very effectively with this combination.

There were also the many songs that I gave her from time to time and the poems that  I wrote about my growing feelings for her as we drifted closer and closer to the day that I would ask of her the question of marriage.

My marriage proposal consisted of two songs that sandwiched my proposal. We were at the Texas Hotel in Fort Worth getting ready to spend the evening at Billy Bob’s on New Year’s eve 1999, the change of the new millennium. How could I pass up a once in a thousand year opportunity to pop the question? The first song was Trisha’s song, the song that started our exclusive relationship. During the instrumental portion at the end of the song, I went down on one knee and asked. I’ll never forget her reaction and my happiness as she answered yes and the second song played on by Lila McCann – “To get me to you”, a song that touched on hardships that preceded life for both of us but resulted in us finding each other.

When we married on March 17, we created a compilation of 19 of the songs that I had given her. We passed them out as take away party favors for our friends who blessed us with their company on such a special night for the two of us and our joint family of six children. When we got back from our honeymoon to Tahiti, I left a simple gift and another song for her in the seat of her car as she played tennis that night. The song was Mary Chapin Carpenter’s: “Grow old with me” as I hope that we get the opportunity to do together. Love, music, poetry, and communication… life is good.