Faded Love

A story about my Mom & Dad.

Faded Love

[Note: I wrote this piece shortly after my Dad passed away in 2004. I wanted to share it with the members of writerscafe.org. It's more or less a tribute to my parents.]

The other day I was driving home from work when I decided to turn off the radio and listen to some uninterrupted music. I pressed the CD button on my dashboard entertainment center and within the blink of an eye I was listening to music.

I had forgot which CD was in the CD player so I was pleasantly surprised and instantly rewarded with one of my all time favorite songs"Faded Love. For those of us who have had the pleasure of hearing Faded Love, Faded Love is one of those songs that when you hear the first note or two you instantly know what song it is and anxiously await the arrival of the first harmonic word so you can join in and sing along. Of course, there would be those who might argue my serenading along is far from harmonic, but, since I am usually alone when I do, no harm done.

Faded Love was made famous by the legendary Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys and has been recorded by many artists including Elvis, Patsy Cline, and now brilliantly done by the artist I was listening to"LeAnn Rimes. I have always thought the best performance by Faded Love was by Patsy Cline. However, the young and extremely gifted LeAnn Rimes performance of Faded Love has to rank right at the top of the best performances of that unforgettable Bob Wills "western swing" classic.

This unforgettable love song opens with a solo fiddle introduction. Then the vocalist sings, "As I look at the letters that you wrote to me, it's you that I am thinking of. As I read the lines that to me were so dear, I remember our faded love." I had heard this song many times before. I have always loved this song, not for any particular reason other than the fact it is just a great song with a great sound. But, in that moment alone in the car, listening to Faded Love connected with me in a way that I was unprepared. This time Faded Love brought to mind a scene in my life I will never forget.

Back in April of this year, one week away from my Dad's 71st birthday, my Dad passed away. On the day before his funeral, my Mom showed me a bundle of letters held together by some string she had wrapped around them. She told me that these letters were love letters Dad had mailed to her while he was away in the Korean War. "They mean nothing to any one, except to me," she said.

I guess it should have been no surprise Mom kept all of my Dad's love letters. Women cherish such things and men, well men just don't seem to think about keeping such documented evidence of romance and "we men" even become squeamish when reminded of our past romantic scribbling. I didn't keep my wife's love letters (I wish I had) and yet, she has kept my love letters to her"heaven help me.

However, I was a little surprised Mom still had all of Dad's old love letters. For as long as I can remember, I never witnessed any affection between them. In the years since my sister's death in 1976, it seemed whatever love there was between them had faded away. Perhaps they only stayed together because of financial need or moral obligation to each other. Or perhaps, their faded love stayed preserved beneath the trials and tribulations of life and unknowingly kept them together until death separated them.

On the day of my Dad's funeral we all passed by Dad's open casket to say our last goodbyes. As Mom passed by and stopped to say goodbye to Dad, she placed that bundled up cluster of Dad's old love letters inside Dad's casket. From now on, when I hear that fiddle start playing the melody that made Faded Love memorable, I will always remember Mom placing Dad's old love letters in his casket to be sealed away forever and let time remember their faded love.

I don't truly know how my Mom feels today about Dad. I know that as Mom and I stood by Dad's bedside and watched him take his last breath, Mom cried and held him after we realized he was gone. She also kissed his cheek and said, "I love you." So I choose to remember that moment in time when a faded love surfaced between a man and woman who were together for a little more than 50 years.

As a son who loves both his Mom and Dad, I like to believe Mom would feel the emotions of yet another verse from that old "western swing classic," Faded Love, that reads: "I miss you more and more everyday. As heaven would miss the stars above. With every heartbeat I still think of you and remember our faded love."