Memories
- Penny Colman
- Mar 6
- 2 min read
Recalling memories of times with Linda, I find, tends to makes me sad with the missings.
However, an unexpected memory, I find, delights me!
Today, an unexpected memory was sparked by reading the obituary of Dolly Parton's husband, Carl Dean, in The New York Times.
There I learned that Dolly Parton's song "From Here to the Moon and Back" was inspired by Mr. Dean. Dolly wrote the "love ballad" in 2012 and sang it in a duet with Kris Kristofferson for the movie "Joyful Noise."
We took a stack of CDs with us on our many women’s history road trips, everything from Beethoven to an off-Broadway show “Cowgirls”; “Sing It!” With Marcia Ball, Irma Thomas, and Tracy Nelson; Aaron Neville’s “Warm You Heart” and more, including Paul Simon, Randy Travis, Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, Emmy Lou Harris.
Linda liked Willie Nelson so he was there too, and that is how we Heard “”From Here to the Moon and Back.”
It was during a long-ago road trip. I was driving. We had just listened to Emmy Lou Harris’s "Red Dirt Girl.”
Flipped through the CDs, Linda read off choices until we we agreed on a new Willie Nelson CD CD—“To All the Girls.” The first track was Willie and Dolly singing “From Here to the Moon and Back.”
The unexpected memory that came to me today—warming my soul— was the feeling of sheer delight as we listened and I took my eyes off the road for a moment to hold Linda’s outstretched hand, and matched her radiant smile with mine!
The smiling photo is from about 1994.
Here links to Dolly and Kris Kristofferson
Dolly and Willie
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