st. lawrence river...

Confession...

I’ve been having a secret affair. For a decade now, I’ve had an insatiable, irresistible, pulse quickening, heart pounding, legendary love affair. Regardless of the men who came in or out of my life, this one has prevailed. I had a date with my love just last night. And it was everything I remembered it to be.

His name is David. David Usher. His power of seduction is his first solo album entitled Little Songs and his poetic words from track number two, St. Lawrence River, is what keeps me coming back for more. Like the allure of an intoxicating scent or the secrets kept behind deep, dark eyes, I simply can’t resist. One moment of weakness and I’m caught up in his sweet story of redemption and I find myself falling in love all over again. Technically, I suppose it’s the album that I’m passionately in love with but since the music cannot exist without its maker, by default, David becomes part of the package!

We have just celebrated our 10th anniversary together. It’s hard to believe how much we’ve been through; our solid casings have been battered and cracked, our eloquent liner notes are fading away, but we’ve endured and we’re that much wiser for having done so.

It’s a funny story how Little Songs entered my life. It was 1998 and I was in my second year of university. I walked into a Gap store in downtown Ottawa in between classes. In the grand tradition that is Gap, one doesn’t get very far before “assistance” is eagerly gnawing at your heels. On this day in particular though, I found myself pleasantly surprised…a tall, cute, well-dressed guy with the most charming of smiles. He strolled up to me, said “hi” and when I smiled back, he said, “don’t I know you from somewhere?” “Hmmm…that’s original”, I thought to myself. “Aren’t you in my Theories of Communications class on Thursday nights?” he asked. So I was! Embarrassed that I didn’t recognize him in return, I proceeded to chat with him as long as the manager on duty would allow. Greg was his name…Greg from Kingston. Twenty minutes later, I had purchased a lot more than I could afford and felt a bit more excited about a class that otherwise left much to be desired. Things were looking up for the Gap!

And so it went for the next few weeks. We would chat and flirt during class. I would laugh at his jokes and he would compliment me on my newly acquired wardrobe. Finally, one Friday night, a couple of my friends and I went out to the campus bar for some drinks. Sure enough, through the crowds, towering above everyone else was my personal shopper…Greg from Kingston! Not only were we rather pleased at finally running into each other somewhere other than class but as it turned out, one of my friends happened to be good “friends” with his roommate (and from the looks of it, was hoping to become even better “friends”!!). So six of us spent the evening drinking, dancing, talking and hoping that it would stay 11 o’clock for hours on end. Wishful thinking aside though, closing time came after all and the bar was shutting its doors for the night. In denial, all of us headed back to Greg from Kingston and his roommate’s apartment. We ordered pizza, played pool and watched as the wee hours of the Saturday morning come one by one.

I think it’s worth mentioning that Greg from Kingston was a perfect gentleman. It wasn’t until the sun finally made its appearance over the horizon that he finally made his move! The apartment was winding down and I was getting ready to head home. My friends were fast asleep on couches nearby and Greg from Kingston replaced Lenny Kravitz with a newly opened CD from his stereo. As I was cleaning up beer bottles in his kitchen, he leaned in for the much anticipated first kiss. It was well worth the credit card debt in new clothes and lack of focus in class! Just moments into our kiss though, I heard it…the light strumming of a guitar and a melancholy voice that followed. I soon found myself unsure of whether or not I was lost in the kiss or this beautiful song. I had to know. Just like that, I forced myself out of the moment and asked him, “What is this song?” Slightly puzzled and certainly questioning his kissing abilities, he replied, “It’s St. Lawrence River by David Usher. I just bought the CD this morning”. Satisfied with my new found knowledge, I returned to my interrupted kiss, but this time, it was different. This time, it was the kind of kiss that makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up…the kind of kiss that makes your stomach flip…the kind of kiss that tells you nothing will ever be the same ever again. I have to be honest though; it wasn’t Greg from Kingston that was making it happen…it was David and all the romance surrounding the river! I was falling in love!

I left shortly there after and never saw Greg again, but I did buy Little Songs the very next afternoon and it’s been a very passionate love affair ever since.

I saw Greg from Kingston a few years later and when I asked him how he was doing, he said, “Good! But I don’t listen to David Usher too much anymore…I didn’t appreciate him stealing my thunder!” I gave him my cutest wink and wished him farewell. I think he could tell that St. Lawrence River and I were still going strong!

Poor Greg! I couldn’t help but feel a little bad!

What’s a girl to do though? The sad, romantic melody…the sweet, sultry sounds…let’s be honest; this kind of love only comes around once in a lifetime!

“Funny how quiet has slipped to our corners
Worn all our edges away
You are watching breathing and baiting
Wanting and warming and cautiously waiting
For some simple signal to creep cross your conscience
Uncover redemption and oh did I mention
I carried you down to the St. Lawrence River
The banks running dirty the water's beginning to freeze here”