Time Does Its Own Thing
Wed., July 4, 10:34 AM
Time goes by slowly, but sometimes it's really too fast. Tuesday morning Husband dragged himself out of his room to tell me that someone died — “ a singer, I think, ninety-nine years old…” Me: “You don't mean Beverly Sills? She was only seventy-eight.” Him: “No. Look in your computer.”
It was posted by Associated Press at 11:35 that morning. It turned out to be lyricist Hy Zaret, who wrote the words to “Unchained Melody,” the title song of one movie and a featured song in “Ghost.”
Oh, my love, my darling,
I've hungered for your touch
a long, lonely time.
And time goes by so slowly
and time can do so much,
are you still mine?
I need your love,
I need your love,
God speed your love to me!
I looked him up and added information to my Song Project.
I was far more deeply affected by the death of Beverly Sills. I admired almost everything about her; in the Seventies, when I was still home with babies, she was on television a great deal. I loved the way she sang and how she really was acting the opera roles. She said, “sometimes it's more important to show the emotion than it is to make pretty notes.” She was pretty and funny and likable. I read her biography and liked her even more.
You may have heard this story. It's true. I always sang to my kids from the time they were babies, but M.D. never quite responded to it. Her hearing was fine, and I didn't know why; I thought it might be that she was not yet connecting to the words. One day — the Mike Douglas Show, I think — Beverly Sills began to sing Gershwin's “Summertime.” The baby sat up and stared at the television. And then I realized, it wasn't that she didn't like music. I just was't good enough for her!
Ah, Beverly, we shall miss you!
During the years I worked for Bosslawyer, I occasionally mentioned Otherlawyer, who owned the building where the office was. He was a bit curmudgeonly at first, until he learned that I wasn't just another one of the dumb blondes Bosslawyer usually hired. We were of similar age, had some interests in common, and enjoyed the same sort of jokes.
A couple of months ago, someone told me that the building was for sale and that Otherlawyer was very ill. I phoned the (former!) Bosslawyer and asked what was up. He told me that it was touch and go but that the doctors thought Otherlawyer might make it through the summer. Bosslawyer is looking for office space closer to his home.
Yesterday I had a phone call from another man who used to rent space in our building. They buried Otherlawyer this past weekend. The local newspaper (not the one I subscribe to) doesn't put its obituaries online, and I had no idea.
Not all the news is bad. One of my cousins is getting married. Her father is my first cousin, much younger than I, and I always think of him as a kid. Surely she's too young… No, we went to her bat mitzvah more than ten years ago.
Unfortunately, I will not be able to go to San Antonio for this event, as much as I would love to. It will take place shortly after my first cataract surgery, too soon for me to hop onto a plane. On the other hand, I have an address again. Since the family had last moved, I had no idea where they were.
And so time — marches on, goes so slowly, flies like an arrow… Time does its thing, whether we like it or not.
