Elvis Has Left The Building

When I look back on my life, I have so many regrets. Love was all around me and I chose to ignore it. Actually, I didn’t choose it; I wasn’t that awake. Perhaps it is better to say that I behaved unconsciously in the face of love.

I am at the time of life when I am mostly alone, both by choice and circumstance. I have time to reflect on the past. One thing stands out, one reason I came in here this morning before breakfast. My neck is tight and I said I would not spend too much time at the Mac today.

Remember that phrase, “Elvis has left the building”? I think everyone does. It became an iconic statement, moment and memory. The audience had seen a great performer, one of the best that ever lived. Now the voice intones that he has left the building. That made everyone in the audience feel special, that they were there in his presence and then he left. Somehow it was a healing moment for the multitudes that now held only ticket stubs. Even as I write this, that feeling is invoked, that moment of something great has happened and then it left the building.

You can imagine the same reverence at the foot of the Cross. The disciples standing cracked apart as if by lightning. Then the moment when Mary saw Him in the garden and there was a building still occupied although she could not touch it.

If you are wondering why I am rambling around the garden, it is only because of love. My little girl and my beloved mate have left the building. I have some ticket stubs and a sense that something great had happened when they walked the earth with me. And there were so many times that I let them down, turned away, then wished them back upon this grimy, beautiful old planet. But I knew that was not to be.

There is no way to end such an essay as this. Just look around at your life and know that someday you will hear these words and know what they mean for you, “Elvis has left the building.” Sometimes I hear a song that cracks me wide open and I sob for a brief time. It’s about those words. My loved ones have left the building but I am always glad I was there for their performance.

Vicki Woodyard
LIFE WITH A HOLE IN IT: That’s How The Light Gets In

One Comment

  1. Vicki I love your essay. When Elvis left the building for good it was a tragedy but I am like you. I also lost my mate in 1999 and most of my heart too. Can’t Help Falling in Love With You was one of our love meledies. I often go to Youtube and listen to it over and over but it does not bring her back. We had 26 wonderful years and a beautiful little girl who is 27 now working on a Doctoral degree. Mom would be so proud.

    Thanks for writing the beautiful words that inspired me to comment.

    If you have a link to other comments from this site please forward it to me.

    Thanks,

    Jim

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