9/29/20 RMB Helen Reddy Rest in
Peace
Dear Rita Mae Brown,
Do you remember a time when you didn’t
know what you didn’t know?
It’s hard to imagine such a time in
these days of internet answers at our fingertips.
It must have been about 1974. I was nine
when my dear Auntie Mary and Mother presented me with concert tickets to see
Helen Reddy. And I had no idea what I was in for. It was in the days of daytime
shows like Dinah Shore and Mike Douglas. I’d seen her sing and quickly acquired
all of her records with my birthday money.
A trip to our Spring Valley Kmart
with my stepfather was particularly fruitful. From that venture I came home
with three albums which I immediately began playing on the turntable non-stop.
I knew every song and sang them in a
whisper on my walk to elementary school a couple of miles away. Her self-penned
Best Friend, about being a friend to yourself, was a particular favorite and
one that I’d lean on often in trying teenage years. She was the angelic voice
of compassion and inspiration that drove me when I was lost and comforted me
when I was down.
I’d never been to a concert and that
night it was all very new. With my Aunt and Mother beside me, I watched and breathed
in every note. The image of her gliding from side to side on that stage,
singing her heart out, is as vivid today as it was then.
Rest in peace Helen Reddy. May your
spirit live on and your work continue in all its magical ways.
In celebration of your life,
Loraine
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