My mother played this album all the time while I was growing up, and it used to drive me up the wall. John Denver wasn’t cool, and he was so cheesy. But my Ma loved him, and had several of his albums – Seasons of the Heart might have been her favorite. At least, that was the one she played the most.
The memory that is the strongest, most vivid, is of “Shanghai Breezes” playing in our house in Texas. It’s early Spring, the windows are open, the song is playing. I’m pretty little, five or six. My mother is somewhere in the house, the kitchen, or her bedroom, but she’s around. I can’t see her, but I hear her singing along with song. She’s there, and she’s in a good mood, happy. Just me and my Ma. It was sweet and innocent, and one of those moments that at the time felt like it could live on forever.
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