Greetings,
This is a cautionary tale for those young people feeling they will never get married or living under the presupposition that they will always be young and carefree. I too found myself in the position of thinking there was not a right woman for me. Then it happened.
For those too young to know the song, Unchained Melody is a love ballet, most famously performed by Bobby Hatfield of the Righteous Brothers in 1965. To this day, it ranks as one of the best 100 songs ever recorded. The smooth soulful passion poured into the song makes it easy to fall in love. Bill Medley, the other half of the Righteous Brothers, stated he did not participate in the song because he didn’t think it would be a hit.
My story of the Unchained Melody effects began on June 26, 1993. We finished a busy Friday night rush and things were winding down as cleanup started. A new employee named Tammy sat down to a meal when the discussion of a get-together spread among the old employees. One driver had his kids staying at grandma’s house and everyone freed up the night. As the plans were finalized, I realized the new employee had not been invited. “Hey, we are all going for drinks after work tomorrow. Do you want to join us?”
“I love to but I don’t drive,” came the innocent answer with no idea what was in store for her.
“You be here by eleven, I’ll make sure you get home,” was my way of including her in the dynamic of the restaurant.
Her father dropped her off at eleven as we closed the pizza shop. A half-hour later, the whole gang left for the bar that play karaoke in old rock and country. The friendly ruckus began the evening with a round of drinks and conversations flowed freely. My life-altering event happened sometime in the second hour.
“Ohhhhaa, my love,” sang out from a rather impressive singer. I grabbed the hand of Tammy and pulled her to the dance floor. I found my thirty-four-year-old self, shining my belt buckle against of a twenty-four-year-old woman. We moved smoothly together as the song played on. It felt natural and comfortable in her arms as the love song moved us around the dance floor.
We closed the bar at 2:30 but being restaurant people were not ready to go home. Someone mentioned a little all-night diner, and we made it over there. Breakfast and laughs continued the good time. The waitress cleared our plates and we continued to party with just coffee. The sun was breaking the night when we left the diner. By the time I got my young companion home, her father was making breakfast for himself.
A little more than nine months later, we said “I do,” before the preacher, family, friends, and God. Then I blinked and today I am recalling this as we approach thirty years of marriage. We celebrated good times and worked our way through trouble, but here we are looking forward to our thirtieth anniversary next week.
The moral of my story is to be careful of who you dance with when Unchained Melody by the Righteous Brothers moves the people around the floor. You just might find yourself married for thirty years and wondering what the next thirty years have in store for you.
This week saw me working on a short story. So far, the story contains 6000 words and will top 8000 before it concludes.
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God bless,
Danny Mac