Dear Mom…

We lost Etta James yesterday, so of course it has been impossible to turn on the TV without hearing a few bars of ‘At Last” [Yes Ms. James you sang it best…we all know it and will never forget it or you.] This of course it made me think of you…our house on Manor Place and my ‘development years’ when I was “forced” to listen to all different kinds of music including the likes of Ms. James, Otis Redding, Sam Cooke, and so on and so on and so on. All I wanted to listen to was Rock, specifically Kiss, but you only allowed that every so often. It was the start of my love affair with music. A love affair that continues today, and in many ways keeps us bonded together.

I have been thinking about you a lot of late, first your birthday a few weeks back and now today, the fourth anniversary of your ‘going home’. Isn’t that how it’s said? You know I don’t know that Baptist speak, lol.

As I promised you last year, I have stopped mourning you. But I do still miss you terribly. I feel a small sense of guilt marking this day, because I know you would see it as a burden on me. But it’s not. I remember how you used to speak of Grandma after you lost her. I know you never truly got over it, so you’ll just have to forgive me for once again following in the footsteps of my Mother. Besides let’s be honest, it’s simply not possible to forget the day you lost your Mother.

Please don’t confuse my missing you with my mourning over you. There is a difference. I no longer have a great deal of sadness when I think of you. Don’t get me wrong, I still have those moments when I pick up the phone to call you, and in that instant there is sadness, but overall when I think about you, I smile. And when my friends talk about you, I feel a sense of pride because your spirit lives on through them thanks to the stories I’ve shared with them and the many meals you taught me how to make.

So on this day, I write to simply tell you how much I miss and love you, and to share with you the one thing that will always hold us together…music.

This year’s selection of songs include the aforementioned ‘At Last’ and Al Green’s Let’s Stay Together,’ which by the way the President sang a few bars of the other night during a fundraiser at the Apollo Theatre. As soon as I heard it, I thought of you and smiled because I know you would have absolutely loved it! Otis Redding’s “I’ve Been Loving You,” Luther Vandross’s “Power of Love,” and Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds” round out my selections.

Yes…all songs that you loved.

I Love you…always. Christopher

Etta James – ‘At Last’

Al Green – ‘Let’s Stay Together’

Otis Redding – ‘I’ve Been Loving You’

Luther Vandross – ‘Power of Love’

Bob Marley – ‘Three Little Birds’