....Kiss Me...And Never Let Me Go

When a man loves a woman,

He'll spend his very last dime
Tryin' to hold on to what he needs.
He'd give up all his comforts
And sleep out in the rain,
If she said that's the way
It ought to be.....
Tryin' to hold on to your heartless love.
Baby, please don't treat me bad.....
When a man loves a woman,
Down deep in his soul,
She can bring him such misery.
If she is playin' him for a fool,
He's the last one to know.
Lovin' eyes can never see.
When a man loves a woman
He can do her no wrong,
He can never want
Some other girl....
When a man loves a woman....

If I've learned anything from the experinece of dating after 65, it is that love/marriage/dating aren't the same little bucket of love potion in every corner of our culture.

While the above love song, "When A Man Loves A Woman" expresses the love of youth...when one cannot see the truth about relationships and the people in them, there's a new song playing on my heart.  Were I to write the lyrics that play in my head sometimes, I'd have to include the notions of...."Did you take your medicine, Honey?"  And, "Don't forget your sunglasses, Sweetie."  And of course, "What'd you say?" (hand cupping ear)

My song would include eloquent descriptions of hand-holding, walking side-by-side, flirting with his knee under the restaurant table, the joy of remembering and still making memories, and forgiving society for their "aren't they cute" glances at us because we're old. And it might include a sudden burst of crescendo with the lyrics, "O, heck, of course we still 'do it!"  And my song would end with the lyrics of that old love song, 'Hold me, thrill me, kiss me, and never let me go."  

Hold me, hold me
Never let me go until you've told me, told me
What I want to know and then just .......

Thrill me, thrill me
Walk me down the lane where shadows will be, will be
Hiding lovers just the same as ....
Kiss me, kiss me
And when you do I'll know that you will miss me, miss me
If we ever say I do...so

Never, never, never let me go

 Now....there's a love song...gets right to the matter at heart.  Hold and thrill and kiss and never let go.  Maybe the lessons of our own young loves have taught us the true value of holding and kissing and the thrill of still having the wonderful old feelings of love and attraction and need fulfilled.  Man..woman, so perfectly created to fit together in body and soul. Nothing more beautiful than to have found the maturest of all kinds of love...the deepest friendship possible.  If only we could explain it; give the notion of it to younger people, they would then find so much to live for and hope for and expect in the years that lead to the final curtain.  Nothing to dread becauuse it gets better all along.  Nothing to fear because the partnering is so sweet.  Nothing but joy and fun and hope.  

Now, joy, fun, and hope abide and the greatness of these is the maturing mesh that joins them as never before...into one huge, wonderful experinece of the maturing heart.  

Never, never let me go.