I giggle as I write this post.

Because Ryan was not the rebel above, or maybe towards the end he was 🙂

I had the amazing honor to spend the last couple months of Ryan’s life right next door. I would come over in the morning and we would make coffee. In the evenings, he would sit at the counter while I made dinner. He would advise, I would cook.

We listened to music while we fixed dinner and I discovered that U2 was his favorite band. How did I not know, after 51 years, that we were both fans of Bono?

What you learn when you need to learn.

I would stream the Pandora U2 channel (I know, so old school) and other 80’s songs would come up. I was sautéing chicken when Simple Minds, ‘Don’t You Forget About Me’ started playing.

I turned it up.

“Ryan, this is yours.” I said, “Don’t you forget about me! How could we ever?”

The song continued……..As you walk on by, will you call my name?”

If you are GenX, you know this song, we were this song.

Ryan’s speech was a little rocky at this point but there was one part he could definitely sing….and so I picked up a cucumber designated for the salad and we both sang together….

I sing, “La, la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la
La-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la
La-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la”

Our cucumber microphone ended up in the salad. I added a couple tears to the dressing, just for taste.

We could never forget about you.