Heaven's Gain

Opera is a big deal in our house. Huge, maybe. There isn't a day that goes by where at least one of the three greats hasn't been heard in our home or our hearts.

Caruso.

Pavarotti.

Bocelli.

My husband is apt to have Caruso playing in his workshop as he builds. Enrico's Nessun Dorma compliments the buzz of the band saw or whine of his drill.

My desk is never without at least one or two Andrea Bocelli CDs on it. I play Andrea while I write, humming along to Sempre O Mai as my fingers move over the keyboard.

And Pavarotti? The great tenor is what we play while we cook, relax on the porch, read, carve, sew--in short, he's the background for our "normal" lives.

I am deeply saddened to learn this morning of Luciano Pavarotti's passing. Yet, I smiled as I read this story. My heart cries to know he has lost his battle with cancer, but it sings as I read about a life well lived.

I'm angered that we still have no cure for the damn disease that claims so many. I wonder how many more years will pass while we grieve, losing those we love to this insidious disease. There's got to be a cure, doesn't there? Somewhere, somehow? Someday soon?

Today our loss is Heaven's gain. Luciano is singing Ave Maria for the angels, while we remember a truly talented man's all-too-short but wonderfully productive life.

Ciao, Luciano. Li mancheremo.