Shower the people you love with love

Tonight there's a party going on in my house. It's my oldest son's 25th birthday weekend, and he has invited some of his friends from Sheffield out to the Peak District for a bit of a do - good food, good company, interesting cocktails and a lot of hilarity.
This morning I thought I might be on Radio 4's Saturday Live - I'd been phoned up during the week to say that they had Christy Moore on, and they thought there could be a story telling theme my piece would fit in with. It didn't happen , but I was keen to listen to Christy Moore - one of our family favourites.
I saw him at Sheffield's City Hall back in the early nineties. He made a joke about it being further to cross the stage at the City Hall than it was to walk from the station to the folk club venue when he'd first played Sheffield.
Rob Brydon was on talking about his inheritance tracks too -James Taylor featured, and he talked about indoctrinating his children, playing James Taylor's music in the home, the car, wherever - and would those songs become their inheritance tracks. Christy Moore played a similar role in my children's lives - Reel in the Flickering Light and Lisdoonvarna are still listened to with nostalgia and affection. I was just thinking about this when Christy struck up Lisdoonvarna live in the studio.
I saw James Taylor three times in quick succession - around the time of October Road. My wonderful friend Joyce was an even bigger fan than I was, and we saw that he was on at Bridgewater Hall. Tickets had been sold out for weeks, and spontaneous trips to Manchester were almost impossible for me with young children. But we phoned up the box office on the day of the concert, just in case - and got two tickets.It was an amazing concert - we were on a balcony over the stage, we could see the set list, a piece of A3 paper taped to the floor, scrawled with a big felt tip pen. We were so thrilled with ourselves at how lucky we had been.
We were on a roll, and saw him a couple more times, possibly on the same long tour.
Five years later Joyce died of a brain tumour, a terrible loss to me and my children. She had time to plan her humanist funeral, and I knew she'd choose a James Taylor song. You've got a Friend was one of our anthems - she'd been an amazing friend to me, helping me through difficult days of single parenthood. She'd helped me type up my MA dissertation. She was honest and true.It was even because of Joyce that I made an appearance on the Antiques Roadshow!
The funeral service was full of all those who had loved her - and she was a woman who was loved by everyone who got to know her. I was trying to be strong. Her death was a release for her. And then Shower the People You Love with Love was played.
Today is my Sweet Baby James' 25th birthday party.