TOPIC: A Couple That Met on an "Eight Minute Date"
| "With You" - Free Download |
TIME TO GET HAPPY! Here's the story behind this joyful, celebratory, playful, happy song:
I immediately liked Dorothy when she came to me with her idea for a song to celebrate her husband Mike’s birthday. We set right in and I learned that the two of them had met, many years before, on a date whose duration was exactly eight minutes long. Apparently there is such a thing as an eight-minute date! If you are looking to meet new people, you can sign up to have a series of dates that are (yep) eight minutes long. You quickly try to assess the person sitting across the table from you, and to help them assess you, and then, DING! The date ends and on you go to the next table, and person! Except that...(read on)
I immediately liked Dorothy when she came to me with her idea for a song to celebrate her husband Mike’s birthday. We set right in and I learned that the two of them had met, many years before, on a date whose duration was exactly eight minutes long. Apparently there is such a thing as an eight-minute date! If you are looking to meet new people, you can sign up to have a series of dates that are (yep) eight minutes long. You quickly try to assess the person sitting across the table from you, and to help them assess you, and then, DING! The date ends and on you go to the next table, and person! Except that...(read on)
Except that Dorothy was able to explain to me how, in just those few minutes, she saw a sweetness in Mike that moved her. Enough to feel like this was someone both interesting and safe. Things progressed. Mike called! After their first date she was pretty blown away by a very rare experience: feeling deeply, really, genuinely listened to. I think we all like to think we are pretty good listeners. But, when you get right down to it, true, careful, attentive, caring listening is a special rarity.
Before you know it, Mike and Dorothy were serious enough for Dorothy to meet up with Mike’s two daughters. Perhaps my favorite part of the song interview was when Dorothy shared with me that, that first time when they were all meeting up at a restaurant, she saw Mike enter with his two young daughters, and the simple way he put his arm out to guide the two of them through the door spoke volumes to her about who this man actually was.
Before you know it, Mike and Dorothy were serious enough for Dorothy to meet up with Mike’s two daughters. Perhaps my favorite part of the song interview was when Dorothy shared with me that, that first time when they were all meeting up at a restaurant, she saw Mike enter with his two young daughters, and the simple way he put his arm out to guide the two of them through the door spoke volumes to her about who this man actually was.
Today, they have a daughter of their own, and Dorothy gets to see every day the tenderness and the gentle ways Mike coaxes her forward, into finding her own way.
Dorothy was reminded, through the process of stopping the world for this song interview, of how powerful and re-affirming it can BE, just to truly STOP, mid-motion, and really take in another being who you love, deeply. We all get going too fast sometimes. We take the “quick view” on someone; we write our own over-simplified stories about what we see before us. But today, I feel as if I am here to remind you of the power of really, really looking, and asking, from deep within your heart, about the person that’s there before you, “What’s here for me to love?” I promise you, there will always be something. Dorothy found herself grateful, to herself and to the process of the song interview, for the reminder. I feel grateful for the reminders all around me, all the time, too!
I was delighted to get to finally meet Mike in person, and to learn that, in fact, he felt joyously seen and “gotten” by this song, as well. HOORAY! That is, always, always, always, exactly what I am shooting for!
Dorothy was reminded, through the process of stopping the world for this song interview, of how powerful and re-affirming it can BE, just to truly STOP, mid-motion, and really take in another being who you love, deeply. We all get going too fast sometimes. We take the “quick view” on someone; we write our own over-simplified stories about what we see before us. But today, I feel as if I am here to remind you of the power of really, really looking, and asking, from deep within your heart, about the person that’s there before you, “What’s here for me to love?” I promise you, there will always be something. Dorothy found herself grateful, to herself and to the process of the song interview, for the reminder. I feel grateful for the reminders all around me, all the time, too!
I was delighted to get to finally meet Mike in person, and to learn that, in fact, he felt joyously seen and “gotten” by this song, as well. HOORAY! That is, always, always, always, exactly what I am shooting for!
WITH YOU
For Mike on his Birthday with Love and Gratitude from Dorothy
Eight minute date, there you were across the table
And I saw sweetness, and I saw a friend
Eight minute date, not much time to get to say much
But I saw you and I knew I’d wanna see you again
Oh, my heart is falling
All my speed is slowing
Something real is going on
I have never felt this listened to
Never felt the way I feel
With you
And then that day when I saw you with your daughters
I saw sweetness, as I watched you bend
Saw all the ways that you let your love just lead you
Saw all the tenderness, all the ways you laid the world out for them
And oh, my heart is falling
All my speed is slowing
Something in me knowing
I could see your love for them all through
And I could feel the way I feel
With you
All these years later there you are across the table
And I see sweetness, you with our girl
The way you make her laugh, the way you play,
The way you show her, the way you coax her to find her own way
The way you listen to her, how present you stay, and the way you
Dare to turn and tune in with me, you make it look so easy
With that smile on your face
With all your clever, un-tucked ways
The way you poke, irreverently
And dare to think, originally
And see past us, to everything
The stars and cycles interconnecting
You’re the only one who makes me feel
The way I feel
With you
ABOUT THE RECORDING
This song was recorded with my longtime buddy and collaborator Eric Kilburn, who is pretty darn complimentary about all my work, but was very especially taken with this particular song.
“With You” goes out to all of you who have given, or received, the gift of listening carefully, and daring to open yourself up to one very special other. If this is not the case for you yet, may it be so, for you, joyfully and soon!
This song was recorded with my longtime buddy and collaborator Eric Kilburn, who is pretty darn complimentary about all my work, but was very especially taken with this particular song.
“With You” goes out to all of you who have given, or received, the gift of listening carefully, and daring to open yourself up to one very special other. If this is not the case for you yet, may it be so, for you, joyfully and soon!
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