DONNA and ME

This song was never going to be some slushy ode about the missus; all beery-eyed and "she's a diamond" sort of song. I wanted to say these things for a number of reasons; some complex reasons and some simple reasons but all of them triggered by losing Mum.

One of the things that such a loss helps you focus on is not only the impermanent nature of our lives but also how we are remembered. It is often said that people are remembered by their deeds; great people are remembered by the great deeds they do. However, it is also true to say that people and events live on if they are chronicled in some way; written about; photographed; recorded or presented. I found it cathartic in a way to put together a celebration of Mum's life with photographs and music for the funeral. There were some images of our lives together that I really wish I 'd had but didn't ; the saving grace though was that we had some photographs.

It was this that led me to think about how important it is to have some touchstones on the journey through this life. After our era is past; after we have all long gone, who will know what we thought, what we said, what made us laugh, who we loved, why we loved them. All of those things that are important to every relationship that has ever existed on this planet since time began; who would know or even care that Donna and I had lived, loved and laughed together? No one? Someone? Everyone?

Well this song is that. It is a message in a bottle cast onto an ocean as wide as time itself. If a few souls find it and read it; good! But it will always be out there, drifting through whatever oceans the future decides to create. And the fact that it exists means that it has a chance of someday landing on a faraway shore and being read.

I just wanted someone to know ...