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Old Love Songs

This was in the early nineties, now almost a prehistorical time. It was the night of the college social timed impeccably to coincide with Valentine's Day. Roses were given away with abandon and romances bloomed all around. The resident DJ had set up shop to play song dedications and was doing brisk business.

Someone I knew just a little played Rod Stewart's Have I Told You Lately That I Love You - for me. Back in those days, in the backwaters where I went to school, that was as bold as a man could hope to get. Fact was we had not even talked that much so this whole talk of "love" was only in his imagination. A long stemmed red rose followed later in the evening. I would have to be an incurable dolt to not get the message.

The raw passion and energy about that song, the atmosphere and youth combined had the desired effect on both of us. Reading about Rod Stewart's divorce makes me wonder at how that makes sense. Maybe being perfect in one way is compensated by many glaring imperfections making lasting happiness harder to come by. A man who with his voice could make perfect strangers fall in love and leave nostalgia that refuses to fade with time - is apparently not so lucky or sure-footed in love himself.

Even today that song recreates the magic of an evening from ten years ago - nothing has changed. Rod Stewart was and still is my Cupid. That Cupid could flounder in love is hard to believe let alone accept.

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