Friday, February 02, 2007

Sean was right (again)

Never, ever, listen to country music when in a fragile emotional state.

For someone who has only cried once in the past two weeks (and that was when a cafeteria worker overcharged me for a cup of coffee), the radio sure got me choked up yesterday.

I was heading down the highway to visit my brother in the hospital, I realized that without kids in the car, I could listen to "grown up radio." I tuned to the local country station, and started bopping along to the tail end of a song I recognized. Then a new song came on about a man driving home in a snowstorm because he couldn't get a flight. "Cute," I thought, "such a nice couple." Then the song ended with:

He didn't stop all day to eat a bite
And he finally got there around midnight
The doctor said, she's in a better place
She said to give this you this note just in case

And it said, I'll wait for you at Heaven's gate
Oh, I don't care how long it takes
And I'll tell Saint Pete I can't come in
Without my love and my best friend
Oh, this ain't nothin' new
Sweetheart, I'll wait for you
P.S. I love you, too
Sweetheart, I'll wait for you
Thus commenced the blubbering.

Not that I haven't made this mistake before. As Mr warillever and I pulled onto the Toll Road on our way to see his very ill father in New York, the first song on the radio was Blake Shelton's "The Baby" --
I got a call in Alabama,
said come on home to Louisianna
and come as fast as you can fly.
Cause your momma really needs you,
and says she's got to see you,
she might not make it through the night.
The whole way I drove 80
so she could see her baby.

She looked like she was sleepin'
and my family had been weepin'
by the time that I got to her side.
And I knew that she'd been taken,
and my heart it was breakin',
I never got to say goodbye.

I softly kissed that lady
and cried just like a baby.
We made it to see Mr warillever's "Pop" that night, and I made it to see JR yesterday. But I will never listen to the radio on my way to a hospital again.

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