Terry’s take on these 40 years…
June 17, 1978 – June 17, 2018
Many months ago I was rooting around on the internet looking into some music. I happened to come across a young jazz saxophonist named Grace Kelly and was watching her Livestream studio session. I started watching the video and really enjoyed her enthusiasm and music. I thought of our son Joe who is a jazz saxophonist also, but I decided not to send him a link to it as he was off touring New Zealand/Fiji/Australia at that time and wasn’t sure how good his internet was. I also thought of my late father-in-law who had died less than a year and a half before. He also was a jazz saxophonist who played with Benny Goodman and other greats in Chicago and who up to nearly the time that he died was always looking for new trends/music.
On the third song of the Livestream, Grace started explaining how she had come to write the song she was about to play. What she said, and more importantly what she played and sang touched a chord in me. I knew then that the song she wrote was a song that described how I felt about Laura and that that song was going to be our 40th anniversary theme song (not just our 40th but our lifelong song). Our anniversary was still many months away, so I tucked this song away so I could share it with Laura during our anniversary.
I started researching Grace Kelly a little more and it turned out that she was going to be playing in Las Cruces, New Mexico on May 27th. It just so happened that I lived in Las Cruces during high school, went off to serve in the Navy and after the Navy came back to Las Cruces to go to college. While in college on a co-op assignment for NOAA in Boulder, Colorado I met and married Laura and we moved back to Cruces to finish my college education before moving on.
We were planning a trip to Colorado to take care of business in early May and I wanted to go to New Mexico to both see Grace Kelly and to visit my parents’ graves. The timing seemed to be aligning to be able to spring on Laura this song at a Grace Kelly concert. Las Cruces is not a tremendously large town so I even hoped to run into Grace somewhere around town so that I could request that she play the song for Laura (not like trying to find Mr. T on Mulholland Drive or in Bel-Air or Hollywood – inside family story).
Unfortunately, our plans changed and we needed to go to Texas for business purposes before we went to Colorado which meant that we would end up in Las Cruces weeks before Grace Kelly was going to play. Knowing this I sat down with Laura before we left, told her that what she was going to see was the way I felt about her and that it was our anniversary song. I put the Livestream on our TV and jumped to 19:03 for the beginning of the story and the song. We sat there and watched the song (multiple times) trying to hold back the tears of our love for each other.
There are some songs that have a special meaning to me about Laura, like Leon Russell’s “A Song For You” and now Grace Kelly’s “Feels Like Home”.
Our anniversary this year falls on Father’s day and I can’t think of a better Father’s day gift than sharing this song which beautifully expresses the way I feel about Laura.
Laura shortly after found the song (sans Grace’s explanation) which is shown below. The full video is here, start at 19:03 for story before song.
Thank you Grace for this beautiful song and thank you Laura for a lifetime of “Feels Like Home”.
So beautiful, the story about your marriage and the song. Congratulations, so happy you found each other.
Thank-you, Deborah!
Beautiful post and song. I also love how the gift of music has been passed down the generations. Happy anniversary to you both.
Thank you, Andy.
Aww, this is just lovely. My husband is not good with words (or music). He’s a blue collar dude, but he has often played certain songs for me to express how he feels. Thank goodness for you musicians to help not only yourselves, but others to express how they feel who don’t know how to do it on their own. Our anniversary was this month, too.
Happy Anniversary to Terry & Laura. Blessings to you.
Most musicians agree: the music, the (he)art, is there to be shared.
Happy Anniversary to you two, too!
😉
Great story. Love the harmonies and vocals. Wow, you two have the secret to keeping the romance alive. Happy Anniversary and may you be blessed with many more heartfelt years together.
Sweet of you to say, Jane.
Glad you enjoyed hubby’s musical find!
CONGRATS ! May you have 40 more musical and love filled years!
Thanks – you two are next –
🙂
What a lovely story! I have never heard of Grace Kelly before (except for the actress/princess 🙂 ) and appreciate hearing a new voice.
You and I tend to have similar tastes (Buena Vista Social Club, etc) and experiences with music, eh? So sharing newbies is extra fun knowing you’d probably enjoy our discoveries!
Thanks for the well wishes, Janis.
Oh my, what a beautiful tribute to your 40 years. Thank you for introducing me to a new singer as well. I’m hooked.
Yeah, he’s a keeper!
He’ll be happy to hear you are a new ‘fan’ of Grace Kelly, the singer/saxophonist.
Well, that got me crying. Terry and Laura, happy anniversary to you both. God’s blessing and peace be upon you.
Love the song! Thanks for sharing, Terry! And Laura, thanks again for the postcard. It’s extra special now that I read this post. 😀
Awww – thanks, L.Marie – hugs