I got a request from my sister-in-law Jill to see a rainbow shot from the hike. That dovetails with one of two songs that have been haunting my head both during and after the PCT journey (the other being my own “Joy of Living, Joy of Life”). From the moment I heard the ukulele/Israeli K. version of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” I was captivated by the song.
I hearken back to the the movie “Wizard of Oz” that produced the original version sung by Judy Garland. The Wizard of Oz books hold special meaning for my family. I tracked down the first 33 books in the series, fourteen by L. Frank Baum and nineteen by Ruth Plumly Thompson, and read them out loud to the family. Much of this occurred while we were in Ithaca. Ingrained in my head is the memory of our kids, aged 3-6, snuggled on our couch around me. Reading epic series to my kids was one of my best experiences as a parent.
The ukulele version of the song, introduced to me by the movie “50 First Dates,” conjures memories of Hawaii, where we celebrated our 25th anniversary on the island of Kaua’i. Rainbow colors radiated during our exploration of the Napthali Coast, both by sailboat and by trail. We explored many trails on Kaua’i, in addition to watching whales from our hotel balcony and snorkeling with sea turtles. Those are among the happiest of our marriage, capped near the end by the memory of us running through the rain from our hotel to a restaurant on our last evening there. Now that our 50th anniversary is out of the question, and perhaps even our 30th, that milestone celebration at least leaves a joyful impression.
“50 First Dates” is a romantic comedy where Adam Sandler must win over Drew Barrymore’s heart anew each day because of her short term memory being wiped out. Thus the ukulele version also underscores for me the bittersweet situation of constantly charming anew a loved one. In Cindy’s case most memories are gone moment to moment, which provides abundant opportunity for reapplying the same charms and perfecting them. Better that I suppose than always having to come up with new charms, given my finite capacity at being charming.
Last but not least I am confronted by the song’s powerfully meaningful lyrics for “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” enhanced by the ukulele medley that also includes lyrics from Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World.” What a wonderful world this has been, married to my longtime Expedition Woman. May we reunite in the future somewhere over the rainbow.
