And connecting with the NOW
Mom Says:
I have been tripping the light nostalgic a lot these days.
Much has happened this year that could be influencing these visits down memory lane but I know that I have felt a bit of that in-your-bones-sadness since seeing the Hip live last week.
- It could very well be that we are moving out of our house of 10 years, (the house that we have raised our children), in less than a month.
- It could be we are changing this part of our life and leaving soon. Heading out on an adventure around the globe and learning about life in a whole new way.
- It could be that the last few years have brought much loss. The passing of a dear friend & so many of my friends losing moms, dads, family & friends.
- It could be how many people we know (& who we consider still young) are battling disease & illness, some winning and some not so lucky.
- It could be in part mourning the loss of so many creative artists lately that shaped a big part of the soundtrack of our lives.
I was deeply sad with Bowie. I cried hard about Prince.
But this time, I got a chance to say goodbye.
To Gord and to a band that bleeds Canadian with me as deeply as a Tim Horton’s coffee or the (old) Hockey Night in Canada theme. Growing up a prairie girl in Manitoba, so many of The Tragically Hip’s songs hold a special place. Honestly, they do for so many of us. They bring back instant memories, rewinding us to the days of youthful ignorance and moments that now seem a lot less complicated than we originally thought.
We had the incredible fortune of securing tickets to two Tragically Hip shows on their final tour in both Winnipeg & Toronto. Without hesitation, we headed back to my hometown of Winnipeg to see the concert, an experience that I have been unable to describe as anything but magic. It was joyously memorable, incredibly fun, a good old reunion and completely full of heartache as Gord walked off the stage that last time. The band was so wonderfully connected. The love between them obvious and Gord’s ability to soak in that moment truly was phenomenal. It was a gift. A big one.
If you aren’t able to see a show live, be sure to watch their final show in Kingston on CBC, August 20th
It felt so special to us that we ended up giving up our Toronto show tickets because it felt important for as many people as possible to be witness to this final, beautiful goodbye.
Here is what we did with the tickets. They ended up being given to a lovely friend who moved her whole family up north to care for her mother in her dying days. An achingly sad anniversary she hit only days before the concert.
Something about this year has changed me. All of these parts have woken me up to the notion that time is truly finite. That our lives can change in a heartbeat and with that, all the plans we had made for the future might not take shape.
Respecting that means that we take action now. Those dreams? We work on fulfilling them now.
We try our best to live in the now.
The moments we now say goodbye comes with reflections of how special those people are in our life and that gratitude is the one of the most important things we can carry with us.
I am surprised by how many Hip lyrics hit a different cord now. The words mean even more about living life fully completely.
Courage, it couldn’t come at a worse time.
Let’s just see what tomorrow brings..
No dress rehearsal, This is our life.
As we say goodbye, all I can say is Thank you guys. For everything.
Dad Says:
So, the last hip show.
Well, it was everything I expected. Emotional, poignant, hyper fun, and it brought back a pantload of memories. Masonic Temple, 1990 I think. Sweaty, over 50 degrees, what a night. Buffalo, NY, , surrounded by a couple classy americans and and a wackload of canucks, rocking it out. Let’s go back to the beginning, Roadside attraction, with Midnight Oil and Crash Vegas and who could forget Hothouse Flowers..
That was a lot of fun, but it wasn’t always. There was a time in my life where I got too much Hip. I worked at the campus pub through university, and there was a Cancon requirement, which meant we got a lot of interesting music, and a tonne of Tragic. Too much, in fact. Every shift we were given the opportunity to revisit New Orleans, get some Courage, and blow some High Dough…
Just too much. Likens back to my days at Planet Hollywood, where the same repeated music video loop did the same thing to Stevie Wonder Superstitious, which should be a criminal act….
But I regress. The concert was awesome and others will write about it better than I, but I think I may be getting old, and I am certainly getting judgey. There was the lady in front of me, who didn’t put her phone down once the whole show. I felt like she was missing what the best part of the experience was. Seriously, take a few snaps and get in the now!
Those updating their statuses. How can you clap with your phone in your hand?
But there was also the good. The 2 guys across the way from us, rocking out, crying, singing along. Well played gents, keep it going for Gordie.
