Different Slants

Seeing the World from a New Angle

When “Time After Time” Came Late…by Robert M. Katzman

Filed under: Uncategorized — Bob at 6:39 am on Sunday, April 4, 2021

Almost exactly forty-six years ago,

I met this amazing woman named

Joyce Esther Bishop.

I proposed to her at Midnight December 31, 1977

Telling her I loved her and

Would she marry me?

Joyce said Yes

*

There was no particular date chosen for that to happen

The important thing was to ask the question

Because our futures

And the futures of our children’s children,

Depended on her answer

Everything else was plans

*

“Time after time I tell myself that I’m
So lucky to be loving you”

*

We decided to be married in Chicago

In a spur of the moment decision

In the middle of Winter

February 19, 1978, a Sunday

A Sunday because

Jewish people marry on Sundays

Because the Sabbath, Saturday, is holy

*

Even though we married in a Unitarian Church

Where we met at a dance 

I didn’t want to go to

Even though Joyce was still Lutheran

Even though our Minister

Used to be Jewish

But was now Unitarian

Even though we both didn’t 

Really know much about being Unitarian

Except the massive Gothic Hyde Park building 

Was so beautiful

So…why not?

*

“So lucky to be 
The one you run to see

In the evening when the day is through”

*

We were both twenty-seven

She worked at Commonwealth Edison

I worked at my wooden newsstand

There wasn’t much money

We were living in her

One-room basement apartment

There wouldn’t be very many people

But the wedding cake, we agreed,

Would be chocolate

Nothing mattered but being in love

*

“I only know what I know
The passing years will show
You’ve kept my love so young, so new”

*

Time went by, as it does

We mused together that someday

When we were more prosperous

We’d marry again in a bigger way

Invite all the people we wished

We could have invited the first time

Have a good band and dancing

*

And I thought, to myself, when we do

I’ll ask her to dance with me

While my favorite romantic song was playing:

Time After Time

Sung by Frank Sinatra, of course

Who turned words on a page into Magic

He was 32 when he recorded it

So, for a little while

We were all about the same age

*

“And time after time
You’ll hear me say that I’m
So lucky to be loving you”

*

And Time went by, as it does

And people make plans

And God laughs at that

We dreamed that on our Tenth Anniversary

In 1988

We’d marry again

Dancing to that song

Because we were becoming more prosperous

*

But then we became less prosperous

And by our 10th Anniversary

When we were both thirty-seven

My business was closed

I was unemployed

We were unemployed

And that dream would have to wait

For better times

*

“I only know what I know

The passing years will show
You’ve kept my love so young, so new”

*

And Time went by, as it does

We’d lie in bed at midnight

Looking at cracks in our ceiling

Dreaming of what was to be

Knowing that one day

Someday

Success would return to us

*

That maybe by our 20th Anniversary

We’d both be forty-seven

In 1998

We’d have that marriage

Dance that dance

And be happy

*

But the older people 

We planned to invite

Began to die

*

And time after time
You’ll hear me say that I’m
So lucky to be loving you

*

And Time went by, as it does

When our 30th Anniversary 

Came about

February 2008

We were both fifty-seven

And our illnesses had increased

And my surgeries more serious

Our parents had died

All the older and less older relatives

And even some of our 

Once young friends

Had died

*

We knew no wedding for us 

Would be happening

Because our daughter was marrying

This wonderful man

Which was more important to us

Than our declining ability to dance

Than I hear Time After Time play

*

Then the unexpected happened

Later that year

December 2008

Moments one couldn’t plan for

Rachel was marrying Gary

I wasn’t part of the planning

So many people were there

Some of them we knew

But not too many

*

This time there was a Rabbi

Who was actually Jewish

He wasn’t formerly Unitarian

There were so many people

It was such a happy time

*

And then the music began to play

And a thought occurred to me

Such an old thought

That maybe things happened

The way they were meant to happen

*

I hesitated for a moment

Because Time goes by, as it does

Then I accepted Life’s 

Mysterious ways

Walked over to the man playing the music

Asked him if he had 

“Time After Time”

In his machine filled with songs

He said he did

And I told him when to play it

*

Then it was time for

The Father/Daughter dance

And I danced with Rachel

Not so fast

Not so well

But the song we were dancing to

During this moment 

At a wedding

Was Time After Time

Sung by Frank Sinatra

*

And as we danced

I saw Joyce’s face

She smiled watching us

Her husband, her daughter

I was happy to be part of a plan

I never made

*

Maybe it wasn’t exactly

How we thought it might be

Thirty years before 

For us

But I was thinking to myself

As I listened to Sinatra’s beautiful voice

That if Man plans

And God laughs

I bet He was smiling now

*

Joyce somewhere in the Universe 

Rest in Peace

***

“Time after time, I tell myself that I’m
So lucky to be loving you
So lucky to be the one you run to see
In the evening, when the day is through

I only know what I know, the passing years will show
You’ve kept my love so young, so new
And time after time, you’ll hear me say that I’m
So lucky to be loving you

I only know what I know, the passing years will show
You’ve kept my love so young, so new
And time after time, you’ll hear me say that I’m
So lucky to be loving you”
***
Songwriters: Jule Styne / Sammy Cahn

******************************

Publishing News! 

Bob Katzman’s two new true Chicago books are now for sale, from him!
Vol. One: A Savage Heart and Vol. Two: Fighting Words

Gritty, violent, friendship, classic American entrepreneurship love, death, heartbreak and the real dirt about surviving in a completely corrupt major city under the Chicago Machine. More history and about one man’s life than a person may imagine.

Please visit my new website: https://www.dontgoquietlypress.com
If a person doesn’t want to use PayPaI, I also have a PO Box & I ship anywhere in America.

Send me a money order with your return and contact info.
I will get your books to you within ten days.
Here’s complete information on how to buy my books:

Vol 1: A Savage Heart and Vol. 2: Fighting Words
My books weigh almost 2 pounds each, with about 525 pages each and there are a total together of 79 stories and story/poems.

Robert M. Katzman
Don’t Go Quietly Press
PO Box 44287
Racine, Wis. 53404-9998  (262) 752-3333, 8AM–7PM

Books cost $29.95 each, plus shipping

For: (1)$3.95; (2)$5.95; (3)$7.95; (4)$8.95 (5)$9.95;(6) $10.95

(7) $11.95; (8) $12.95; (9)$13.95 (10)$15.95 (15)$19.95

I am also for hire if anyone wants me to read my work and answer questions in the Chicago/Milwaukee area. Schools should call me for quantity discounts for 30 or more books. Also: businesses, bookstores, private organizations or churches and so on.

4 Comments »

Comment by kumari de silva

April 4, 2021 @ 8:01 am

Thank you! I love the stories about Joyce! Hope you are well

Comment by Beth

April 4, 2021 @ 9:35 am

You are an incurable romantic, Bob. Thus is lovely. Thank you for sharing.

Comment by Keeko

April 4, 2021 @ 6:25 pm

This was one of the most heart-warming stories I’ve read in ages. Thank you. I’d love to see more stories like this.

Comment by Brad Dechter

April 5, 2021 @ 4:44 am

You brought tears to my eyes. Hugs Brother!
Brad

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