The song
I Wish
I was young, but I was dying
Didn’t think that I’d see twenty
I would never have a husband
Or children in my life
She was young, her life was over
Taken from you in an instant
You would never hold her children
She would never be a wife
Oh, I wish you could see her!
See her playing in the yard
I wish you could meet her!
She’s the age your daughter was
When in your grief you gave my life to me-
I wish you could see her
Thank you! Thank you!
For my daughter for my husband
For my life
Thank You! Thank you!
I pray your grief was lighter
With the knowledge that
You gave another, life
Time has passed, it seems so quickly
But the years are five and twenty
I got to have a husband
And a daughter of my own
You’re older too, I’m sure you miss her
I’ll never know if you had others
I hope you had more children
I hope you haven’t been alone
I wish you could see her!
Blonde hair shining in the sun
I wish you could meet her!
Know your child’s life is not done
She’s alive in me, and in my daughter too-
I wish you could meet her.
Thank you! Thank you!
For my daughter for my husband
For my life
Thank You! Thank you!
I pray your grief was lighter
With the knowledge that
You gave another, life
The Bio
My next door neighbor is alive today because a child died 25 years ago. She remarked to me recently. "I was watching Isabella and realized she is the age of the girl whose liver I received." A powerful thought to have, truly bitter sweet, and it was this that I wanted to convey in my song. Back then, transplant donors families and the people whose lives were saved were not able to communicate with each other. I am glad that today they are given the option of sending letters, and possibly meeting each other. I have seen videos of people listening to the heart beat of their child in another person's body, and am getting teary remembering it as I type.
My uncle had a heart transplant from a 16 year old who had died in a car wreck; we got to have him and all his wonderful silliness for 16 more years because of it, far more than the 5 years they hope the transplant will not be rejected.
25 years for my neighbor...both she and her daughter are living miracles.
**Smell edit- I just spoke to Jennifer, she has had her transplant for 28 years, not 25. And she liked the song :)
Techy writing and music bio stuff.
Ted and I worked on the tune together, I had a basic idea of the tune and told him "Think Anne Murray or Karen Carpenter". Not certain he knew what I was talking about, but he sure came through, didn't he? Those beautiful bell like notes, the arrangement etc are all his magic.
I had some fun with placement of rhyme schemes, and deciding that instead of verse-chorus-bridge-verse-chorus I would do verse-chorus-other chorus-verse-chorus-other chorus, and only keep those second "Thank you" chorus's the same.
I put internal rhyming patterns - I was young, she was young- then the wife/life in the first section, and the repeated "her's" in the second, and the slight rhyme sound of the a in was and yard.
I wanted to continue the story in the second set of verses- whereas in the first I said "I would never have a husband, Or children in my life" in the second set it was "I got to have a husband, And a daughter of my own".
And just to rhyme with "own"- and to tear your hearts out - I came up with "I hope you had more children, I hope you haven’t been alone". It was the last line I wrote, to correct an earlier one which didn't rhyme with "own".
Yeah, kinda tore my own heart out with it. Still getting teary and blowing my nose a lot. I need more tea to get the tears out of my throat if I am going to sing this decently!
Here. Have a tissue. :)
Oh- and sign an organ donor card; tell your family you have done so. Don't take your organs to heaven- heaven knows we need them here!