Laura is in Denver at a conference, so on Saturday I took my Mom to see my favorite little band in the world - the Sons of the Never Wrong. Laura and I rarely miss a concert if they’re within 100 miles - there is probably a fine line between groupie and stalker.
Bruce Roper, Deb Lader and Sue Demel are the Sons - even though two seem like daughters, but whutevur… We met the Sons through my friend Lizzy. I fell in love with them musically when I heard “Maybe Just Maybe.” I fell in love with them as people when I saw how they felt about Lizzy.
Lizzy had accompanied the Sons on her didgeridoo BEFORE she got her beautiful, new lungs. We met them at a party celebrating her one year anniversary. I learned more about Lizzy's didg, and her incredible strength, at that party.
Their music makes you think, and it makes you laugh, and it makes you smile, and it makes you feel. They’ve written so many songs I love that it is difficult to talk about a few. Deb wrote a song titled, “Beside you.” It makes me feel warm inside - part of the first verse is:
You’re in my eyes, in my hands
In my daybreak, in my breath
You’re in my camera, in my painting
In my altitude when I’m dreaming…
It reminds me, in such a beautiful way, how lucky I am to have found Laura. And it also makes me think of Kari, and how lucky I am that she found me.
Bruce wrote “Maybe Just Maybe”, and he also wrote a song titled “Forever on.” I know that when I leave this beautiful planet, I want "Forever on" played at my services.
Sue wrote a song that I’m particularly fond of – the first time I heard it, I told her that the refrain reminded me of Lizzy & me. On their CD, “Nuthatch Suite”, you can hear Lizzy accompany them on her didg – and the liner notes read, “Dedicated to our friends Liz--who plays the didgeridoo here, & Steve who struggled through life until an organ donor and donor family saved their lives and let them breathe with new lungs. And to Steve's donor, Kari Westberg, and Lizzy's anonymous donor, who they think about every day. Be someone's hero, consider organ donation!”
Wind/Tree
The stronger the wind is, the stronger the tree [chorus]
Have you seen it, have you touched the truth,
have you ridden that train or taken a longer look?
Have you walked that walk, have you taken the leap,
have you found a friend or have you lost her?Did you take the blame, have you carried that weight,
did you hold somebody's hand when they needed you one day?
Did you swallow that pill, did you right that wrong,
have you taken that chance or is it long gone?Did you love well, were you stupid sometimes,
do you keep up with the Jone's, do you apologize?
Keeping everything in order, did you make a little mess
'tween the loving and the grieving and the regrets?Did you fall down, did you bury that pride,
Did you choke on lover's tears or run a hundred miles high?
Did the devil take you under, did redemption bring you release,
have you figured out the answer to the mystery?
Sue changed a line in the last verse to be about Lizzy and me climbing the Hancock.
On Saturday, when Sue introduced the song - as she often does, she told the audience about my beautiful donor Kari, and about me and my beautiful new lungs. She told them how special organ donation is. She made my Mom love them even more.
Sue, Deb, Bruce (and Al when he joins them) are very special people. Their CDs are wonderful, but seeing them live makes their CDs even richer.
A number of their songs are on YouTube - here is my other favorite Sue song:
I love the last lines of this song – I hope that this post is my way of saying good things to people who make me feel good about being alive.
On Saturday, Sue said something about me being bored out of my mind hearing them sing the same songs over and over… It’s not about the songs. I don’t get bored being with Laura. I don’t get bored seeing Kari’s smile in my mind. Their songs are playing in my mind so often, I can’t imagine getting bored being with them.
