Bryan McKnight's "The Only One For Me"

This is the live version, and the only one I found on YouTube. I would have rathered to post just the song... but I don't know how :) I heard this in the car recently, and I had to pull over. It was like being punched in the stomach. Maybe you need some background. This was one of the last songs I danced to. Before my knees really started to tell me "B*tch please". It was a pas de deux for ballet (literally dance for 2) and was more artistic than technical because my knees had started with the "bbiiiiitttttccccchhhhhh" and my partner was sweet and understanding. Artistic in this sense means with more expression. It is harder to achieve because it is a chemistry that you can not fake. This piece reminds me of the fairy tale that ballet is, as my gentleman had some beautiful genuflexes to pull. He also had the capacity to look into your eyes and make every other woman in the room want to kill you. My water buffallo (1st boyfriend) saw this one. He loved it. Even into college we would slow dance to this song. In his dorm room even. It was how we made up after arguing and the way to say "I'm sorry" when the words were too hard. It is important now because it reminds me of something else. The faith we need to have in people, even people of the opposite sex. For women, to believe that the men in your life are trying, and in their own way, they love you. and it is beautiful and worthy and the world is not all sh*t. For men, it is the idea that women can be led like women. That we appreciate when you open doors, pull out chairs, and blush for the mini-compliments like being gifted with coffee. There is a cliched idea among mentally ill people and social deviants that there are defining moments in your life from which you could go one of 2 ways. One is better and the other worse. and each is something we could equally justify to ourselves. I was an escort and counselor for the Rape Crisis Center for 4 years. The last several were incredibly painful. When I got called in the middle of the night, it was ususally leaving Dream Killer asleep. I woke him to tell him I was leaving and he would wait up for me to come back. and he would hold me until I had to go to work or school. In the end, I had to stop when I could not bear for him or anyone to touch me. He was patient and tried to understand... but was vocal about the idea that I thought this was what women were to men... objects. That being empathetic was poisoning me and I wasn't leaving it at the hospital. He said the Battered Women's Shelter was the same way. He may have been right in some respects. You can only be hurt by so much for so long... before you have to see something different and better- or you do think that this is all of their is. And it is easy to consider it a byproduct of all men, and not just a few f*ckheads with control issues. But this song brings me back to a better place. I like all of us, have angels in our lives that create and keep that faith, so to speak. And even sans boyfriend I love Valentine's Day. It is the day of Happy hearts. Like on Westheimer in Houston (will post it closed to V-Day). Hugs and Kisses