it's a sad thing when one must leave the other . . .

A veterinarian in my town died last week at age 61. It's been over a decade since we began taking our pets to a different vet, so I hadn't seen him in awhile and do not yet know the cause of death. Still, the obituary was a shock to read and to learn that he and his wife had been married for 40 years. She I have seen around town throughout the years and I've always enjoyed a quick chat with her because she has a wild sense of humor and she always makes me laugh.

She with her wild sense of humor and he with his wry wit seemed to just go together. I have thought of their 40 years: marrying young, the journey through vet school, moving to this town to set up the clinic, working together the early years of the practice, having two sons who are the spitting image of their dad.....

This song is from one of Emmylou Harris' more obscure albums (Stumble Into Grace), one that I get in the mood to hear for days on end about once a year.....as I have lately. She wrote the song about her friends Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash, and, although the lyrics are personally their story they seem universal in describing long-term marriage and the soul-mate connection.

May you know love like that.



Strong Hand (Just One Miracle) - lyrics

He was a tall man
Raised up from the fields out pickin' cotton
In a hard land
Where the ground was poor and the wood was rotten
But when he saw her
All those bad times were forgotten
And he believed, he believed

She was the strong hand
A good sister and a daughter
Lookin' for one man
To love the way that her mama'd taught her
And when she saw him
She thanked God for what he'd brought her
She believed, she believed

And it's a miracle
How one soul finds another
Just one miracle
Is all it took my brother
For l have seen them
As they walk this world together
And i believe, l believe

It's a sad thing
When one must leave the other
And fly up where the voice rings
Out with all the multitudes that gather
But for a short while

Down here no song ever sounded sweeter
And we believed, we believed

For it's a miracle
How one soul finds another
Just one miracle
Is all it took my brother
And l will see them
Someday they'll walk again together
l believe, l believe
This l believe, l believe





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