This Sunday, I will be in Paris, France, where the unthinkable happened yesterday. Unless you've been hiding under a rock, you most likely saw the terrible blaze that took down much of Notre Dame in that City of Lights. Almost 800 years that cathedral withstood wars and the test of time and who would have ever thought an accidental fire would bring it down. Though I'd passed it on all three of my trips to Paris, we never got to go and see it up close. Funny, but my pal Kristen actually said she was going to try and bring the group to it this time. Now...
I don't know too many French songs, and even though Grace Jones is not French and the song is about a happy life, the music and song to me are beautiful and so my way of paying some sort of tribute to that lost, beautiful structure which indeed had a Vie en Rose...
Today is a very special day. Today is the day that one of my very best friends finally gets to take a walk down that aisle to wed the man of her dreams and I couldn't be happier for her. Laura Kim and I first met way back in 2003 when we were both hired by the same school district and from the moment we met, we were fast friends who have only grown closer over the years.
Over the past 12 years or so, LK and I have been through a lot together, seeing one another go through relationship triumphs and relationship woes and through it all we've always been there for one another. For past several years, up until a little over a year ago, the two of us had been commiseratingly single until one day last spring when she met Robert.
Now of course when a good friend meets someone new there's always a little skepticism about the new guy, and though I'd heard a lot about Robert over the next several months, I didn't get the chance to meet him until their engagement party this past spring. At first, I simply thought he was a really nice guy...super nice, in fact, and I left that party feeling happy for my friend. In the weeks and months since, I've had several opportunities to hang with Robert and I have to say that I genuinely like him even more and couldn't be happier for the two of them.
So the day has finally come and I am excited for my friend and her new hubby to be, and it wasn't difficult choosing a song to dedicate to them on their special day. La Vie En Rose is a beautiful love song, made more beautiful that it is sung in French. Madonna is actually performing it as a part of her setlist on the Rebel Heart Tour and she recently called it one of the best love songs ever written. I know the song from the version I am posting today, one that was originally performed by Grace Jones in the 70's. Not only is the composition of the words beautiful, the music is a soothing, pulsating melody that calls to mind two lovers engaged in a synchronous tango of love. Here's to Laura Kim and Robert...
