https://youtu.be/Snh2sp72kRA?si=wBJEzlznl3OmpSl1
I would like to share the genesis and development of the song For You and For Me, excerpts from a message delivered at NY Run for the Fallen.
For You and For Me is the kind of song that each can make their own. Although it started as a tribute to military Gold Star families, it also has come to hold a special place for first responders also.
The Gold Star families, who have become dear friends, refer to it as “Our song,” and rightfully so.
For You and For Me has come from many places and spanned many years. I am daughter, sister, wife, niece, aunt, cousin and friend of members in all branches of the armed services. Although I wasn’t really politically active, or involved during the Vietnam era, one thing that stood out to me and stuck with me is how horribly our military was treated. It obviously left an impression on me, because years later starting with the Gulf War, my first instinct was to do what I could to let the military know they were appreciated and seen.
In 2008 and 2009, I attended the wakes and arrival ceremonies of some of our local fallen heroes. I did not know any of these young men, or their families then, but I felt compelled, as did many members of their communities, to pay respects and show support. At each event, I was of course, saddened. However, I was also uplifted by the support of the communities, and touched by the strength and compassion of family members in the receiving lines.
I remember standing at Griffiss waiting for the planes bringing home the fallen. I remember the line that meandered all the way through the Waterville High School to the auditorium to honor Cpl John Sigsbee. I remember standing in the beautiful day in the quiet reverent line outside the Barry Funeral Home for the wake of Lance Corporal Daniel Geary. I was so moved that day that I went to my car in the parking lot across the street and began writing, trying to capture what I was feeling. I sat there for a while, lost in the moment, observing people come and go, listening to the American and Service flags snapping in the breeze. I went home, and thought not only about the fallen heroes, but also about those who were currently serving as well as those who have served, our Veterans. Less than three weeks later, I was back at the same funeral home for the wake of Lance Corporal Blaise Oleski.
As I stood in line at each of these somber occasions I asked myself, “Why do I, and so many others, go pay our respects to someone we don’t even know?”
At all of these events I also witnessed the Honor Guard as well as the Patriot Guard Riders with their “heads and flags held high”, honoring and guarding each fallen hero, their family, and all those gathered.
I somehow managed to put the thoughts and feelings I had written together as a poem that was published in the Boonville Herald for Memorial Day. Friends, asked me “when are you putting that to music?” I had never intended it to be a song, but I sat down one afternoon, and the tune was there, simply and easily. A gift from God.
As I prepared to go into the studio, I kept feeling there should be a fiddle or pipe and a drum on the song, along with the guitar. While brainstorming with my husband John, he suggested I listen to the song The Minstrel Boy. It was popular in the American Civil War and WW I, and is still used sometimes at military funerals. The tune is an old Irish Aire and it blended well with For You and For Me. I shared some of this story one day, with Gold Star Mother Teresa Oleski, and she told me that Minstrel Boy was one of her son Blaise’s favorite songs. Divine intervention once again. Thank you Lord for guiding me to and with this song.
My hope is that those who hear the song feel the mixed emotions, the sadness, the patriotism, the gratefulness and the honor, as well as the comfort and healing.
For You and For Me, Our song, has now connected with Honor and Remember and Run For the Fallen whose mission is to perpetually recognize the sacrifice of America’s military fallen service members and their families. We have a common mission to never forget...they do it For You and For Me!
God Bless our fallen, our Gold Star families, our Blue Star families, our service members and our Veterans, and all our first responders! God Bless America!
