Hello Again

Neil Diamond
1981

Her name was Cathy and, as fate would have it, she turned out to be the love of my life.  She was the only woman, in fact, with whom I’d ever really discussed marriage.  It never happened between us, of course, but what matters is the fact that I am a better man because of her.

Ours was certainly a non-traditional relationship for any number of reasons, not the least of which was because one of us was likely going to spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair.  Yet, Cathy had a ticking time bomb inside her as well – an aneurysm in a small blood vessel in her brain that hung over her like a guillotine.

In truth, we were different in so many ways.  She used to joke that nothing made me happier than being at the Carrier Dome surrounded by 40,000 of my closest friends, while nothing made her happier than sitting on the couch, barefoot and in her jeans, engrossed in a good book.  What’s more, while I was open about my feelings, she only let her feelings be known to her closest friends, with whom she’d talk about me all the time. 

Yet, somehow, we found each other.

I met Cathy when I was thirty-five and she was volunteering on Assemblyman Mel Zimmer’s re-election campaign. I was Mel’s chief of staff and it wasn’t long before we discovered a chemistry that neither of us could – or, frankly, wanted – to deny.  Before long, we were spending a great deal of time together, going to then movies, making dinner for one another, and spending hours drinking wine and discussing life, love and our dreams for the future. 

But one day, Mel came to me with tears in his eyes.  He had something terrible he had to tell me.  The vein in Cathy’s head finally failed her.  She never made it to thirty-three, and I suppose part of me died with her that day. This song is one that I might not have even noticed except for her. She loved it.  And, soon, so did I.  So much so, in fact, that this one is probably as close as we ever came to having an official “song.”

So, please, when you listen to this little gem by Neil Diamond, try to imagine a pretty young girl full of hope and promise sitting on her sofa, her face buried in a good book and a little half grin on her face.  And just know as well, that there’s a tired and world-weary old guy out here somewhere in a wheelchair, a guy who’d do anything for one more night with her.