During this pandemic lockdown, all of us will have missed being in contact with our family and loved ones. Fathers, mothers, and grandparents will have greatly missed seeing their sons and daughters and grandchildren, and brothers and sisters will also have felt the absence of seeing their siblings.
I dedicate this song today to all you parents and grandparents who long to see their little boys and little girls who are either still little or have grown into adults and now have little boys and girls of their own. Whether parents or grandparents, our children will always be our little boys and girls.
There will be some good things to come out of this Coronavirus crisis that the country and world currently face. Chief among these things will include meeting with our extended family once more. I suspect that being a part of family gatherings and rituals such as Christenings, First Communions, weddings, birthdays, barbecues, hospital visits, and funerals will be prioritised in the future and seen as vital visits, 'never again to be missed’.
Never again in our life shall we so easily take for granted, all those contacts which mean so much to us and which preserve our continued sense of wellbeing. Never again shall families across the world take for granted doing those things that make us a complete person and enables us to feel a fully paid-up family member once more in every sense of the word. Never, in most of our lifetimes, shall we have fully understood and appreciated just how important it is to be with the ones we love, and to do those things that families do together, especially during times of great danger.
My heart goes out especially to those individuals who will emerge from this Coronavirus pandemic with one or fewer members in their family, due to death. The loss of a grandparent, partner, mother, father, child, brother, or sister to this vicious virus must have laden hearts with grief ten-fold, to have been denied access to their death bed during their final hour or to their funeral and burial afterward. No words will mitigate, nor person lessen your pain and feelings of loss now and in the immediate future. The only human response all individuals can make is to stand alongside you in your mourning, try to understand what you are going through, and be there for you if needed or called upon.
Today, I sing for all families out there who are missing their traditional family lives and family members for whatever reason. It might appear insensitive of me to sing any song today that missed out a vital family member of the nuclear unit core (especially if I sang about one’s mother and dad had sadly died during the current crisis, or vice versa). To compensate, therefore, my four songs today are for sons, daughters, fathers, and mothers (and by umbilical inference, grandparents also). Whatever their/your circumstances, I offer you these four songs in the representation of the love you feel for them all and the hurt that not being able to see them, hug them and kiss them brings you.
My four ‘family’ songs I humbly offer you today are:
(1) For our sons: ‘Beautiful Boy’
(2) For our daughters: ‘My Little Girl’
(3) For our fathers: ‘Dance with My Father Again
(4) For our mothers (the first face we ever saw): ‘The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face’
Have a nice day, everyone. Love and peace Bill xxx