Lately, as I've grown older, and hopefully wiser, I've noticed that I have become quite nostalgic. Especially when it comes to songs I hear on the radio. I've realized that certain songs immediately bring back specific moments in my life and I want to capture some of those before my memory goes and I don't have those vivid pictures in my mind.
This morning, while driving to work, on a Saturday of all days, I heard Cool Change by Little River Band. Now, I am a recent fan of Little River Band but I guess I was a fan of them before I really knew it. I've always liked Lady and Lonesome Loser and Cool Change. But let me share with you what Cool Change brings back to me.
Back in the 90's, I lived in Orlando, FL. The tourist mecca. I worked a short time at Disney and then for some other resorts in the area. Greg worked at Disney before I met him and then he worked at Sea World for a short time.
While Disney was crazy to visit on a day off, Sea World always seemed like a visit, a hot visit, to a tropical island....where you stood in line to ride rollercoasters and sample beer. But I loved to go see the manatees, the dolphins and the Shamu show each time we went. Once Greg worked his magic (leftover from Disney, I'm sure) to get me to be the volunteer during the Shamu show. I got to go stand up near the large tank, and I made a hand signal and the orca took off to do a flip or a splash or something. And then the orca came back and kissed me through the glass. I still have the photo.
The evening Shamu show was a little less splashy and more intimate than the day show. And the song they played during that show was Cool Change. The trainers got in the water and swam gently with the giant killer whales. It was such a beautiful sight. I remember at certain times in the song, when there was a build up in the music, the trainer would do a signal and the whale would swim off and jump gracefully, mostly in time with the song. It was great and I sometimes find myself making those hand motions during the song while it plays.
However, this leads me to a sad place. That picture I have, the one of the whale kissing me, also shows the trainer. It was Dawn Brancheau, the seasoned trainer who was killed by Tillikum, an enormous orca whale, in 2010. She is the one I remember swimming with the whales when Cool Changes played in the evening.
So the song is bittersweet to me. It calms me down when I hear it and it makes me sad at the same time. Some day I hope to go back to Sea World, to see that evening show again, with hopes that Cool Changes is still played so I can get a new memory to go with the song. And if it is not, I hope there is a new cool song playing to takes its place.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Monday, December 18, 2006
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