There are few songs that can deeply affect you your whole life. As far back as I could remember Kenny Loggins played on my parent’s cassette tapes and on the soft rock radio stations that my parent’s played incessantly to the point that I even naively believed 70’s and early 80’s music was the only kind of music that existed for more than half of my childhood.
Even as a young child, I’ve been enthralled by words in such a peculiar way that I see now majoring in English was always my inevitable path; it’s as if my heart has always been spoken for. One song with its magical array of cleverly assorted words has continued to grow with me alongside the ever increasing lines that grace my face. As a little girl, I heard Loggins sing of loving “the girl who holds the world in a paper cup.” Although, I wasn’t quite sure what those lyrics meant back then; I wholeheartedly decided I was going to be that girl.
Loggins sang “even though we ain’t got money, I’m so in love with you, honey,” and those lyrics carried me through all the years when we had no idea how we were going to pay our bills and we lived, quite literally, on love. He sang how “a smile, a face, a girl that shares my name,” changed the boy who “will never be the same,” as if he personally knew the affect my love would have on Jarod.
He sang about babies being “conceived in love,” and seeing “a family where there once was none” as if he knew how much I still marvel at these children that surround us with their presence and affection.
He sang about the kind “little boy (being) mine,” and how a “Pisces … is a very good sign,” as if he knew Aiden’s existence even before Jarod nor I ever were a glimmer in our parents’ eyes. He sang as if he somehow knew I would tenderly sing those lyrics to our first-born in the quietness when a mother and a child’s hearts are first entangled and seemingly inseparable.
Years have woven into our marriage and even almost eleven years later, Loggins tenderly reminds me that I need to “try to earn what lovers own,” because love is never devoid of effort; this wisdom whispers in the recesses of my mind when I selfishly demand more without loving reason.
And most importantly, he reminds me “in the morning when I rise, you bring a tear of joy to my eyes, and tell me everything is gonna be alright,” for the sun has always risen after the darkness envelopes the entire world and hope has always been miraculously prevalent. Our sole job is to, simply, believe.
Danny’s Song is much more than a favorite song. My simple words can only suggest a minuscule of the depth of emotion and meaning this song provokes in my soul. Thus, absolute joy filled me when I sang back these beautiful lyrics to the singer and songwriter himself while sitting next to the man that “shares my name,” the Pisces “little boy (that is) mine,” our three other babies who were “conceived in love,” and my best friend who often reminds me that “everything is gonna be alright.”
This moment will forever be a favorite.
