In my mind today, I am thinking about The Rolling Stones. Students, I don’t expect you to know that band although they are still rolling on tour. They just lost their drummer at the ripe young age of 80 years old. I hear you back row. Yes he was ancient, but he was still a phenomenal drummer. Read his biography, yes, it’s homework and yes you can use Wikipedia. Warning! Be ready to be amazed. This blog has been in my mind for a while. It’s not about The Rolling Stones but about how motifs and themes weave throughout our lives. This theme / motif just happens to be sparked or “Started up” by memories the Alleys have of the band.
If you know my husband, you know he had three other lives before we met. One of the reasons I fell so quick and hard for him was because he was so into music. I still love to hear him talk about all of the cool experiences he has had collecting and researching and looking for interesting new musicians online now. Before the world wide web he researched through magazines like Trouser Press. The best part of his passion for music is going to live shows and concerts. He’s been to so many in his four lives. I’m so grateful I have had the pleasure of spending this final season with him. His story of when he saw The Stones in ‘76 in Tampa Bay with his oldest daughter on his shoulders shows how long he has been a Stones fan. As a family, we have always had an affinity for all kinds of music. We watch live concerts and still have such a love for music. This is a gift he gives us. He calls it useless information; I call it treasure. These are the gifts that find their way through time around fire pits, Thanksgiving tables, and family reunions. Do you see how The Rolling Stones can spark such sweet memories?
Fast forward to 1994, we were able to get good seats for the Voodoo Lounge tour coming to the Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tennessee. ‘Oh what a night!’ It was one for the books. I am very much a lightweight when it comes to alcohol. Two beers down and Mick Jagger had nothing on me! Yes students, teachers go to concerts and sometimes drink beer. Settle down, back row. I was 25 years old. This was a beautiful season for us. I remember it oh so well.
Ken and I kept rolling on with our lives just as the Stones kept rolling on tour. Lives end and begin as we live our little existence. There is an ebb and flow of good and bad. The journey is what makes being human so amazing. The initial spark for this blog was a picture of my newest granddaughter and me. She is wearing her two year old brother’s t-shirt. My husband said, “I was at that show.” Time continues to roll by us, but as I look back I am so grateful that we were in the present moments of our lives together. Lots of people didn’t think the love that we have would have even endured. I was too young and he was divorced with two children is what most whispered even in our own families. Tomorrow will mark 32 years that we have loved each other with such a special love under the beautiful sacrament of marriage. I always say prayers for people especially my children to be able to find a love so grand and so selfless. Did I say that it would be easy? Grief Free? Every day a party? I think every marriage has some type of trials, but we have come to be so fickle and selfish in our searching for love and companionship. We have forgotten that love is not an abstract concept or an emotion, but an action of self-giving sacrifice for another’s well being. We take the backseat. Our culture today scoffs at such sacrifice and commitment. Ideas such as these will get you nowhere; this is what the culture wants us to believe. Post modern society wants us to just get the most out of life and think of ourselves only. Students, what kind of love do you aspire to gain during your life? Just like Mick sings, “You got the mix, Charlie, you got the fix, It’s love!” I would marry him again and not change anything, even ALS. Wild horses couldn’t drag me away. Happy Anniversary to my little rock and roll. So glad that God put us together. I know in this life and in our next eternal life we will be together with God.
Sarah Anderson Alley
Sal the Rocking Roll Gal
Quotes for the Day:
My most brilliant achievement was my ability to be able to persuade my wife to marry me. By Winston Churchill
Love is often the fruit of marriage. By Moliere
Happy is the man who finds a true friend, and far happier is he who finds that true friend in his wife. By Franz Schubert
There is nothing nobler or more admirable than when two people who see eye to eye keep house as man and wife, confounding their enemies and delighting their friends. By Homer
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