{"id":346,"date":"2016-07-12T18:53:32","date_gmt":"2016-07-13T01:53:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joesays.ca\/?p=346"},"modified":"2016-11-11T20:30:39","modified_gmt":"2016-11-12T04:30:39","slug":"drag-me-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joesays.ca\/?p=346","title":{"rendered":"drag me away"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"wildhorses\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We all have songs that instantly connect us to a time and place.\u00a0 The funny thing is, we can\u2019t choose them; circumstances do.<\/p>\n

One of the most potent for me is Gino Vanelli\u2019s Wild Horses.\u00a0 Every time its thrumming, insistent intro comes on the radio (yes, I still listen to the radio) I\u2019m taken back to a very specific moment in time.<\/p>\n

It was mid-summer, 1985. I was living in Vancouver, working in TV.\u00a0 Not long before, I had bought my first house and welcomed my first child into the world.\u00a0 Life was full of new and unfamiliar sources of stress.<\/p>\n

My younger brother (who lived in Ontario) was between jobs at the time, and took advantage of the situation to make a trip west to visit family and friends.\u00a0 He came to stay for a few days and help with some home renovations (which was, like parenthood, a foreign country to me back then).<\/p>\n

At the time, our youngest brother was living in Edmonton, and his birthday was nigh.<\/p>\n

Hey, said younger brother, why don\u2019t we drive up there and surprise him on his birthday.\u00a0 It was a perfectly feasible suggestion \u2013 Edmonton was a mere day\u2019s drive away \u2013 but I hedged.\u00a0 I had obligations now.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t just \u2018hit the road\u2019 on a whim.<\/p>\n

Nonsense, said my wife.\u00a0 You have holiday time, work is slow, and I\u2019m fine with the baby.\u00a0 Go.<\/p>\n

So I did.<\/p>\n

Bro & I packed the car with essential provisions (including a few cases of Kokanee, a west coast staple that was at the time unavailable in Alberta and therefore much coveted) and hit the highway.<\/p>\n

As we drove across BC in that picture perfect summer\u2019s day, it seemed that song \u2013 Wild Horses \u2013 came on the radio every 15 minutes.\u00a0 Even as we moved east, changing stations as we went, the song followed us every mile of the way.\u00a0 Its loose, carefree spirit became the perfect theme song for our little adventure.<\/p>\n

The visit was a huge success.\u00a0 We three brothers ate, drank and partied prodigiously for three days.\u00a0 It helped that it was high summer, that the weather was glorious, that we all felt on a bit of holiday from real world responsibilities.\u00a0 But we never had a better time together, or were closer, than for that brief spell.<\/p>\n

At the end of it, we parted \u2013 exhausted \u2013 and went on home, brimming with hangovers, great memories and genuine affection.<\/p>\n

That was thirty plus years ago.\u00a0 Since then, things have changed.\u00a0 Marriages have ended, and new ones begun.\u00a0 Parents have died.\u00a0 Some friends, too.\u00a0 Fortunes have waxed and waned; some stars have risen, others fallen.\u00a0 Personalities have shifted, and relationships changed.<\/p>\n

I have\u00a0written before<\/a> about the dominant regret of my generation: namely that our parents had died with things left unsaid between us.\u00a0 There is surely a chapter to be written about estrangement as well.\u00a0 I\u2019ve heard of people severing ties with loved ones, of not speaking to parents or siblings for years and years \u2013 and could never quite understand how such a thing could come to pass.<\/p>\n

Now I do.<\/p>\n

As I enter my sunset years, I doubt \u2013 I know<\/em> – we three will never come together in such brotherhood again.\u00a0\u00a0 And while some us rewrite the past, I prefer to savour it and the pleasures we once took in each other\u2019s company.\u00a0 Every time I hear the song, that is what comes back to me.<\/p>\n

But these days?\u00a0 Wild horses could not drag us together.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We all have songs that instantly connect us to a time and place.\u00a0 The funny thing is, we can\u2019t choose them; circumstances do. One of the most potent for me is Gino Vanelli\u2019s Wild Horses.\u00a0 Every time its thrumming, insistent intro comes on the radio (yes, I still listen to the radio) I\u2019m taken back…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,8,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-facts","category-filosofy-c","category-raves"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/joesays.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/joesays.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/joesays.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joesays.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joesays.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=346"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/joesays.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":358,"href":"https:\/\/joesays.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346\/revisions\/358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/joesays.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joesays.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joesays.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}