In which Dan takes over my playlist

Tom Petty Concert, June 2008

On Saturday, I had the house to myself for a few hours.  This is a rare thing.  I opened up all of the windows and turned on Pandora, ready to do some much-needed spring cleaning.  Here are the songs that Pandora “randomly” selected for me:

1. “Man on the Moon” (REM): This is the song that I listened to on my way home from Abington Hospital, after Dan’s 2005 liver resection.
2. “Learning to Fly” (Tom Petty):  Mark and Paul surprised Dan with Tom Petty tickets as a Penn State graduation gift.
3. “Losing my Religion” (REM): As mentioned here, Dan and I had a REM connection... and when Pat was going through the DVD/ CD collection, he found one of my CD's.
4. “Pictures of You” (The Cure): No Dan connection per se, but I have been pouring over pictures a lot in the past few months. ("There was nothing in the world that I ever wanted more
   than to never feel the breaking apart- all my pictures of you.")
5. “Jeremy” (Pearl Jam): The part that made this one especially eerie was that the song was a recording of the State College concert in May 2003.  Dan was at this concert.  His voice is a part of the roaring of the crowd.    

Once I realized this, I decided that I had dusted enough for one day and I turned the radio off.

It is hard to describe how I felt when the room was quiet again.  My thoughts were full of Dan.  Nothing specific, just his smile. I missed him very much, but for once, these thoughts did not bring a wave of tears.  I looked out to the yard, felt the breeze flowing over my face, and thanked him for saying hello.

* * * 

In other Saturday Shenanigans, a horse named Wise Dan won the Woodford Reserve for the second year in a row.  (This race is run as a part of the Kentucky Derby Festival.)