"Name your top 10 appropriate songs to play during cocktail hour"
Mixed mood. Fun.
Easy enough, right?
Back in the winter of 1995 I moved from my undergraduate town of Plattsburgh, NY to Lancaster, PA.
My father had remarried, gotten sober, and moved to Lancaster while I was in college. I was still only experimenting with guys....oh shit, I digress. This post isn't about that.
It's about the girl, MY GIRL. I met her on one of my first few times going out to a gay bar in Lancaster. Well, to be precise, it was the morning after I went out to that gay bar.
I woke up with some guy named Kenny, on his living room floor.
He announced, "Hey Meridith, this is Nathan, " as she stepped over me on her way out to work, or something like that.
In the following weeks and months I'd run into her a lot, until eventually we started hanging out and going out at night together.
Our love affair as best friends began in Lancaster and I have no idea where it ends.
She's still in my soul, still in a lot of moments in my life, even though I don't reach out to let her know it. I think she thinks of me too, in moments she knows I would appreciate...that we would appreciate. She knows me...I know her. I've always, since the day I met her, thought of her as my sister. I have no siblings, but if I did, I know it would be her.
We both have big eyes and deep thoughts. Siblings.
When she moved to Baltimore, I moved there not long after her. When she met her then girlfriend, I was there by her side. When they broke up, Meridith moved into my dining room turned lesbian bedroom. On New Year's Eve 2000, The Millennium, when everyone was fleeing NYC, we went up and went to the Roxy. When we fell....we picked each other back up.....sometimes though, life doesn't mean for us to get up right away and sometimes the best we could do was sit down next to each other and cry our faces off.
Time has forged it's path with us, and we have shed lovers, jobs, pets, and fears. We try to do our best to be as close as we know we should be...but it gets hard and new fears, pets, jobs and lovers sprout up.
And here she is. Getting married. To the woman, Annie, who has finally fit into her the way that feels just perfect. The right balance, the right beauty...the right one. It is quite literally perfect.
I always had dreams of being her best man, or some version of that. Alas, she is "heading in a different artistic direction" with her wedding and it isn't meant to be. She knows me though, and I got a text tonight asking for some songs for her cocktail hour. She knows music and Nathan. Even though she isn't always on the same page with my music, she always gives it a try.
1. Ho Hey by The Lumineers. Because i see the townsfolk sitting around and chanting this in a mountain bar. with lightning bugs, paper lanterns and a warm breeze. And this vision reminds me of Meridith and Annie.
2. Mirrors by Justin Timberlake. Because i happen to sing this song beautifully and i love it when it's a sing along. Kidding...but almost not kidding. The words...if i were getting married, mirrors.
3. Express Yourself by Madonna. Because everyone needs a little Madonna, and I've always pushed Mer Mer to express herself. Even if she won't grab her crotch like Madonna. oh wait...yeah she will :)
4. Love Will Come To You by the Indigo Girls. Because, no song has ever meant more at times in my life. Because Love did come to Meridith.
5. Oops...I Did It Again by Britney Spears. Because I made Meridith listen to this, over and over and over and over. And over. As I made the world's most PERFECT mix tapes. and it's Brit Brit. I needed one Brit song.
6. You & I (forever) by Jessie Ware. Because this bitch. And this video. And this song are everything. About love. About making it together. Forever.
7. Ice Cream by Sarah McLachlan. Because I cried many long nights to Meridith with Miss McLachlan as the soundtrack. And this song...I believe Meridith and Annie found their own very special flavor of ice cream. Cheers ladies.
8. To Make You Feel My Love by Trisha Yearwood. Because we are getting everyone in the mood for love and a good love story. and this song should just about do it. to anyone. you cold hearted bitches out there.
9. Viva La Vida by Coldplay. Because my feet tap. and he's singing about ruling the world. drums and revolutionaries. and i think about gay weddings. bells ringing...and it's a god damn revolution. and I am into that. Let's make it dramatic, it took long enough for us to get here.
10. XO by Beyonce. Because it makes sense. For any of us.
plus 5
11. Crack the Shutters by Snow Patrol This song, is a lovers song. It belongs in the light of morning. listen to the words and you will fall in step.
12. A Thousand Years by Christina Perri This one breaks my heart. Literally breaks me in two. It was the end of a week vacation in a false paradise and it played while he packed his bags. In any event, I think it one of the most beautfiul love songs I've ever heard. I can't listen to it really anymore, but knew it had to be up here.
13. Drumming Song by Florence and the Machine High drama. If you watch this video, and I recommend you all do, you will see what I mean. And I think this list could use some drama.
14. The Edge of Glory or You and I by Lady Gaga. They are both the same song to me. High celebration, dusty roads and real people. As strange as that may sound for Gaga, I love these songs.
15. Make it to Me by Sam Smith. His voice. All of our hearts. Get it Sam.
This woman, has shown me unconditional love and friendship like no other. I would do anything for her. Anything. The least is to essay the love I have through some songs and some pieces of myself that go directly in the light and love of the marriage she is about to start.
It may not be the exact vibe you may want to create. But I had a helluva fun time putting it together....for my friend's cocktail hour, with the knowledge that it isn't MY cocktail hour. And I can't wait.