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Blog archive

November 2024

October 2024

ARBORIST WALK: NOT FOR TREE HUGGERS ONLY!
10/29/2024

Bill Wishner: Visual Hunter
10/29/2024

Can a Village Group Fix Our Healthcare System?
10/29/2024

Community Board Directors Strengthen Village Board
10/29/2024

Connecting with Village Connections: The A, B, C, & D’s of Medicare @ 65+
10/29/2024

Grief is a Journey: Two Paths Taken
10/29/2024

Message from the President
10/29/2024

Promoting Informed & Involved Voters
10/29/2024

What Will Be Your Legacy?
10/29/2024

1619, Approaching the Election...
10/27/2024

Beyond and Within the Village - A Star is Born
10/17/2024

Happiness by Priscilla Leonard
10/11/2024

Those Winter Sundays by Robert Hayden
10/11/2024

Unpainted Door by Louise Gluck
10/11/2024

In the Evening by Billy Collins
10/10/2024

Wild Geese by Mary Oliver
10/10/2024

Betty Kilby, A Family History
10/01/2024

Betty Kilby, A Family History
10/01/2024

Betty Kilby, A Family History
10/01/2024

September 2024

August 2024

1619 Wide Ranging Interests
08/19/2024

1619 Wide Ranging Interests
08/19/2024

First Anniversary
08/19/2024

Alexandra Leaving by Leonard Cohen
08/16/2024

Muse des Beaux Arts by W. H. Auden
08/16/2024

The God Abandons Antony by Constantinos P. Cavafy
08/16/2024

Ch – Ch – Ch –Changes
08/15/2024

Cultural Activities Team offers an ‘embarrassment of riches’
08/15/2024

Engaging in Pasadena Village
08/15/2024

Future Housing Options
08/15/2024

Message from the President
08/15/2024

There Are Authors Among Us
08/15/2024

Villagers Welcome New Members at the Tournament Park Picnic
08/15/2024

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas
08/14/2024

A narrow Fellow in the Grass by Emily Dickinson
08/13/2024

Haikus
08/13/2024

One Art by Elizabeth Bishop
08/13/2024

Poem 20 by Pablo Neruda
08/13/2024

Still I Rise by Maya Angelou
08/13/2024

Trees by Joyce Kilmer
08/13/2024

July 2024

June 2024

May 2024

Emergency Preparedness: Are You Ready?
05/28/2024

Farewell from the 2023/24 Social Work Interns
05/28/2024

Gina on the Horizon
05/28/2024

Mark Your Calendars for the Healthy Aging Research California Virtual Summit
05/28/2024

Meet Our New Development Associate
05/28/2024

Putting the Strategic Plan into Practice
05/28/2024

Washington Park: Pasadena’s Rediscovered Gem
05/28/2024

Introducing Civil Rights Discussions
05/22/2024

Rumor of Humor #2416
05/14/2024

Rumor of Humor #2417
05/14/2024

Rumor of Humor #2417
05/14/2024

Rumor of Humor #2418
05/14/2024

Springtime Visitors
05/07/2024

Freezing for a Good Cause – Credit, That Is
05/02/2024

No Discussion Meeting on May 3rd
05/02/2024

An Apparently Normal Person Author Presentation and Book-signing
05/01/2024

Flintridge Center: Pasadena Village’s Neighbor That Changes Lives
05/01/2024

Pasadena Celebrates Older Americans Month 2024
05/01/2024

The 2024 Pasadena Village Volunteer Appreciation Lunch
05/01/2024

Woman of the Year: Katy Townsend
05/01/2024

April 2024

March 2024

February 2024

January 2024

Unchained

By Edward A. Rinderle
Posted: 03/18/2024
Tags: ed rinderle

From an early age, my Dad instilled in me a love of several of life’s treasures.  One of them was  was sports.  An early football hero of mine was a receiver for the LA Rams named Elroy “Crazylegs” Hirsch.  After retiring from football, Hirsch made a film entitled “Crazylegs”, which chronicled his life story.  A few years later he starred in a second film about a “prison without bars”.  Entitled “Unchained”, the movie wasn’t much of a hit, but it did introduce the world to its haunting theme:  “Unchained Melody”.

Years later, in the summer between my junior and senior years as an undergraduate at the University of New Orleans (UNO), I had occasion to attend a summer math retreat at the University of Oklahoma.  During that summer, the Righteous Brothers released their version of “Unchained Melody’, showcasing Bobby Hatfield’s magnificent voice.  That song lived in my memory as a reminder of one of the most special times of my life. The fact that I met my “first love” during that time didn't hurt, for she was also a fan of the Righteous Brothers.  

After graduating from UNO, I moved to Southern California to attend graduate school.  I married, had three kids, bought a home in Altadena, and settled into a job I loved.  Toward the end of my 30-plus years in Altadena, a movie called “Ghost” hit the theaters.  The film grabbed my interest, partly because its bittersweet nature was enhanced by its theme:  “Unchained Melody”. 

More years passed, and I found myself enjoying a little get-away with my wife Jean. I relaxed in a chaise lounge poolside at a condo in Palm Springs.  I took in the gorgeous mountain panorama towering above the ripples of the pool.  Across the way, Jean was sunbathing.  Piped in music filled the air with “oldies”.  Amid my reverie, Bobby Hatfield’s voice drifted in on the strains of “Unchained Melody”.  Then, just as Hatfield sang “I need your love, God speed your love to me”, Jean rose from her chaise across the way and walked around the pool to my side.  Though she is no longer with me, I can still see her walking my way in my dreams.

Across the years, “Unchained Melody” has linked together the phases of my life.  From “Crazylegs” to Oklahoma to “Ghost” to a poolside in Palm Springs, that beautiful and heart-wrenching air hangs as a garland.  A gift from the Cosmos to me. 

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