Would you know my name if I saw you in heaven?
Would it be the same if I saw you in heaven?
I must be strong and carry on
'Cause I know I don't belong here in heaven
Would you hold my hand if I saw you in heaven
Would you help me stand if I saw you in heaven
I'll find my way through night and day
'Cause I know I just can't stay here in heaven
Time can bring you down
Time can bend your knees
Time can break your heart
Have you begging please, begging please
Beyond the door, there's peace, I'm sure
And I know there'll be no more tears in heaven
Would you know my name if I saw you in heaven
Would it be the same if I saw you in heaven?
I must be strong and carry on
'Cause I know I don't belong here in heaven
~ Eric Clapton & Will Jennings
On March 20, 1991, Eric Clapton's four-year-old son, Conor, fell from a window on the 53rd floor of a New York City apartment where his mother's friend lived. While there are no words to describe what an accident like this can do to a person, it seems that Clapton found some words to break our hearts at the very imagining of such a tragedy. Today, 25 years after "Tears in Heaven" was released on the Rush soundtrack album, the song can still make me cry.
And it's been almost fourteen years since my best friend, Peggy, who would have turned 67 today, died of cancer. October 19 never fails to remind me of her, of our friendship, and of her legacy for those who knew her.
Peg and I met when I was three and she was two. Our back yards were adjoining, and my memory preserves an image of the two of us staring at one another one spring day at the point where our yards met. The fact that my memory has no parental figures in the picture is irrelevant. What matters is that this was the day that I came face to face with the person who would be with me every day of our childhood lives, except for that week every summer when Peg would go on vacation with her grandparents and I would be lost. Peg and I were a year apart in school, but at home, we were equals. Every Halloween costume we made, every book we read, every cake we baked, every flower we picked, we shared our interests, our creativity, our humor, and our love.
I will always miss Peggy. I will always love Peggy. I will always wish her a happy birthday . . . in heaven. But I cannot say there will be no tears.
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