Mixed tape.

A brief digression if you will... Do you believe in fate? I mean, really truly things happen for a reason and we're all connected in this universe to everything else? Because I do. YKW, not so much. He's a level headed fellow, that YKW. Likes things in black and white. Yup. Not a lick of spiritual guidance and fate mumbo jumbo for him. Even despite me dragging him to see Wayne Dyer, he was impressed, but not enough to give up his RATIONAL ways. I'm a big believer in fate, spiritual connectedness, and karma. I believe truly that all happens for a reason, even the shitty stuff, and that if you choose to surround yourself with love and prosperity, that is what you'll get back. Sometimes you need to do some real soul searching to find what you're supposed to be learning, but it's always there.


So back to my mixed tape post. This afternoon, I was sitting with my girlfriend at the pool and we were talking with my dad about how YKW hates Al Green and that pretty much makes him a commie bastard. My father was aghast because YKW is a musician! He can't hate Al Green! Anywho, Dave maintains his hatred for Al stems directly from the fact that my "doin' it" cd was in the cd player and every single morning he was awoken by Al crooning Let's Stay Together. Well the "doin' it" cd was a compilation of all kinds of songs to get you in the mood. Which, of course, lead to the discussion of what one might have on their "doin' it" cd. So tonight, I was on a mad hunt to find said cd, long since buried away, and tell my friend what was on it.


Which leads me back to fate.


Dave and I were on two different paths when we met each other. As I told you in the Dear YKW, I'm glad you didn't marry my sister post, I was a commitment-phobic wild girl who didn't want to settle down. He was on track to becoming a navigator in the USAF. We didn't plan to fall in love with each other. We both thought it might be fun to hang out with each other until said time of parting for the Air Force or until I flitted on to my next fling. So, that didn't really work well for either of us since we went and fell our asses in love and we were faced with parting anyway. I knew in my heart of hearts that this isn't what was supposed to happen to our story. I am not certain, but I am 99% sure that he knew it too.


He went anyway. I knew it was something he had to do, something he needed to figure out for himself.





So tonight, I am on a mad quest to find the "doin' it" cd to see what was on it, to do a post about mixed tapes and I run into this cd that I made for Dave a million years ago. Neither of us had listened to it since 2004 when he came home and left the AF behind. So we popped it in, and we were listening and it was a little emotional, I'm not gonna lie... and song #3 came on.


1. Do What You Have To Do - Sarah McLachlan
2. My Love Goes That Far - Karen O'Shea
3. So Wonderful, So Marvelous - Tower of Power
4. Let's Fall In Love - Diana Krall
5. You Gotta Be - Des'ree
6. There Are Places I Remember - The Beatles
7. Out of Reach - Gabrielle
8. Collide - Howie Day
9. If You Ever Did Believe - Stevie Nicks
10. I Try - Macy Gray
11. I'll Be - Reba McEntire
12. Here Comes the Sun - The Beatles
13. Baby, Now That I've Found You - Alison Krauss
14. You Get Me - Michelle Branch
15. Never Knew I Could Feel Like This from Moulin Rouge
16. That's All - Michael Buble'
17. Birdhouse in Your Soul - They Might Be Giants
18. Grow Old With You - Adam Sandler


But here is the weird ass thing, a couple of months before our wedding in 2005, we were in a bit of a panic because we didn't have "our song" for our first dance. It really did strike us both as funny that we didn't have one song in our whole relationship that meant something spectacular enough to use it for our first dance. So Dave is the musician and I asked him to find "our song" and he picked out a few by Tower of Power and we settled on So Wonderful, So Marvelous. Truthfully, I knew YKW liked Tower of Power, but I had never really listened to them. And we both remembered that, when we were choosing "our song" he and I both thought I was hearing it for the very first time.


And I had put it on a cd for him more than a year earlier when I wasn't certain I would ever see him again. He could have taken such a different path with his life. And I with mine. Our beautiful little Finnegan wouldn't have existed. He could have been my one that got away, and I his. I wouldn't have met some of my amazing friends. We wouldn't have adopted Monty, the wonder dog. This blog wouldn't have existed.


When I listened to the whole cd over again tonight, it really amazed even me how much the lyrics of these songs parallel our story. We both kind of sat here in silence, knowing and not even needing to say it. You can see right in the title of my blog, how much this song has touched our lives even without tonight ever happening. When we were done listening to it, YKW admitted that while he doesn't usually believe in my fatey mumbo jumbo, this one was too big to ignore. Sometimes that sweet, lovely universe needs to smack you in the face with things.


Isn't life wonderful and funny sometimes?