With one day left to my birthday, I decided to save this song from Spring Awakening as my penultimate. Obviously, unless you’ve seen the show you won’t know the song or what events led up to Jonathan Groff’s Melchior singing it. He is a boy who is grief stricken beyond words and ready to just give up on his own life until the ghosts of those who’ve gone visit to reassure him they’re never really far away. The song is called Those You’ve Known, and my heart bleeds when I hear it, both with sadness of the burden of so much loss as well as with the swelling of joy knowing they walk beside me as I continue through this unpleasant world. Bleak, I know, to be a part of a song countdown, but so relevant, especially during the holidays when one feels the losses on a much greater scale than usual. My Christmas tree is littered with framed photos of those who’ve gone, because I really would give anything to have them all back. Even if just for a day.
From the historical writing archive. Original date: December 20, 2016. Recovered from local source material; editorial review is still in progress.