A Personal Extraordinary Experience On The Day Prince Died

Here's a short and sweet story about a very recent extraordinary personal experience...

Two days ago, I was out walking around the Haight-Ashbury district in San Francisco.  I had a few errands to run and had brought Tyler the Pup with me.  I'd awoken early (for me) that morning and had decided to do some grocery shopping which, potentially, could entail walking/skateboarding/riding the bus to four different markets... ones which weren't close to each other (It did).

(@ 10 am) The first store I went to was on Haight Street.  I'd bought some amazingly sweet organic strawberries there at an equally amazing price recently, twice.  Unfortunately, when i got there, the price had gone up thirty cents and - although they were California strawberries - they were from a producer I didn't care for.

So, onward (sans strawberries)...

As I walked to the second market (several blocks away), I began to try to sing along with a song that was playing in my head.  I say "try" because I hadn't heard the song in a long time and was unsure about the order of some of the lyrics.  I went in the second store to pick up a couple salads they usually have prepared. Unfortunately, although they did have many salads on the salad bar, they didn't have the ones that I like.

So, onward...
... about seven more blocks to - then - wait for (ever!) to catch the MUNI...

The whole time Tyler and I are making our way to the MUNI stop, inside my head - as loud and clear as if she were standing there, right in front of me - Sinead O'Connor was still crooning "Nothing Compares 2 U" in her beautiful, melodic, tortured way.  I could even see her - in my mind's eye - just as she looked in her video.  I was pleased to find that I was having a fair amount of success getting the lyrics in their proper order - even if I couldn't match Sinead note-for-note.

This is what I saw in My Mind's Eye...




Anywhoo...

To make a long-enough story a little shorter, the MUNI (finally!) arrived and Tyler The Pup and I went to the other two markets and found some of what I had intended to pick up.

And, through each and every moment,  for the entire time - from the moment it had started back on Haight Street - Sinead O'Connor and I were singing our hauntingly mournful song about utterly grief-stricken, heart and soul-crushing loss.

And, for the remainder of the day, Sinead and I sang that song.  Mostly often as a duet but, at times, Sinead would sing it solo (inside my head, of course) if other people were around.

We sang it as I made my way from one stop to the next and as I took care of my errands and - especially - to block out the murderously inane muzak that businesses seem to like to assault people's ears with once inside their doors.

She sang as we arrived back at home and as I cooked dinner for Tyler The Pup and for myself.  I didn't mind at all.  I'd always loved that song - every note, every word and Sinead's every exquisitely-nuanced performance of it.  I swear, from the first time i'd heard it, it touched a Sacred part of my Soul.  And, honestly, I think it touched a Sacred part of every Soul who ever had the honor of hearing it.

At around 9:00 pm, I'd gotten both of our dinners finished.  I gave Tyler The Pup his and sat down in front of my laptop.  I was running late for my favorite (and only) radio show: Fade To Black with Jimmy Church!

I brought up the show's website and the player came to life.  I glanced at the description and couldn't believe what I didn't want to be seeing:

"Tonight On FADE TO BLACK with Jimmy Church:  In Memory Of Prince...".

Immediately, I tried to lie to myself, "No!  It's 'Prince Charles' who died... Please. Please. Please!  I mean, seriously, I'd be totally okay with that.  Because, if it wasn't Prince Charles, then, I so didn't want to know!  My eyes went back and read the screen again.  No!  It couldn't be Him!  No!  Not PRINCE!

It took me a few moments...  And, then, I realized, Whoa!

THAT'S Why Sinead O'Connor's rendition of 'Nothing Compares 2 U' Was In My Head All Day.

At some deep, unconscious level - perhaps at that Sacred place in my Soul - I'd already picked up on that His Royal Badness, our gifted, gorgeous, genius Prince was gone... and (with Sinead's powerful performance of one of the songs Prince, himself, had penned) I'd already been remembering and mourning him.

There was never and will never be another like Him.  Rock In Peace, Brother!

Click on the link below to see what AWESOME looks like: 

Prince's Full Super Bowl XLI Halftime Show 2007