In researching my memory recess, it was in the spring of ’83 that I experienced what The Four Seasons sang in their hit “Oh! What A Night” when in the opening lyrics of that hit instead of December ’63 Oh! What a night it was for me that night in ’83. That night especially was a very special moment for me. And, as the lyrics progress, I remember what night it was for me. He didn’t even know his name when he approached the bar in the Gold Room. Then I knew that things would never be the same again. What a lady and what a night it turned out to be.
For all things that happen in life, there are some cases where a chance encounter abruptly changes the direction of life. Was it love at first sight or was it just a passing adventure? I had a feeling when he entered the room. But, when he approached that bar, I knew in that moment that he would never be the same again. The infectious smile when he turned to me completely mesmerized me. It was like he was in a trance. All I could do when he approached me was realize that he was everything I dreamed he would be. And while the lyrics say “Sweet surrender, what a night. I felt a gust like a ball of thunder rolling spinning my head and sinking my body.”
His smile was immediate when we both looked at each other. Out of nowhere I offered to pay for the drinks he was ordering for his friends. At that time and there it seemed so right. What a lady and what a night it really turned out to be. As I recall, that night ended too early. Throughout that night we danced so close that his breath was intoxicating, so warm and sweet. But when the last call came, we knew our lives would never be the same again.
When he left, a sweet feeling washed over me. Later that night when I fell asleep, she was all I could think of. What a lady and what a night it really was for her and me. Early the next morning, the rush of passion never rose. Eagerly I called back to here her sweet voice. And, by the following weekend, I was welcomed into an extended family knowing that our lives would change forever. That gleam in his eyes when we first met never wavered, never faded.
For more than four years, through the good and the bad, the love we shared came to a tragic end. He knew from the start that he might have come into her life a little too late to ease the burden of an uncomfortable life. As the disease progressed, I knew that all good things must end. Now, some 30 years after she passed on the lessons of her life that she passed on to me, they have remained as fresh as the days we were together. Through all these years, she was the one who shaped the person I became. The ease of her demure, gentle manner eased the harshness of my unusual manner. So now I had softened to the point where the anger subsides. All for the love that she gave me.
As her children have now grown up with children and her own graduate children, it is appropriate to keep alive the memory of what a lady was and the first night it was for me. Remembering that it was so exciting to have experienced a once-in-a-lifetime romance that grew out of a chance encounter in what is always remembered as what lady and what night it really turned out to be.