RH
A note from Dr. Hendrix
This is the night I proposed to Cheri — parked on the shoulder of the Pacific Coast Highway with the waves breaking nearby and a song coming through the AM radio. I wrote it because the biggest moments of our lives often hinge on the smallest details, and I have never forgotten the soundtrack to mine.
— Dr. Roger Hendrix · We share these stories so you can know the family behind GreenTeaHP.
I was driving south on pacific coast highway.
It was a Saturday night and
I had been rehearsing the words all day
about how I would say,
will you marry me?
I pulled off onto
the shoulder of the highway.
We could hear the ocean waves
breaking
near
our car.
I turned on the am radio
to give some romance
for possibly the most important day
In either of our lives.
It was a January day.
There were no clouds in the night’s sky.
There was a light chill
in the air.
A light chill
with a slight hint of fog in the costal southern California air.
Ruby Tuesday played on.
There’s no time to lose . . .
catch your dreams before they slip away.
Cheri, I said,
will you marry
me?
Are you sure?
We’ve only been dating two weeks, she said.
I didn’t know what to say,
so I said,
there’s no time to lose,
let’s catch this dream before it flies away.
She laughed.
I think It’s slips not flies away.
Right,
So, is that a yes?
Fast forward fifty years.
Cheri and I are sitting with our seven year old grandson
having Father’s Day breakfast at an outdoor cafe
called la Caille at the foot of the Rockies.
Harry leans forward
and says he’s going to have a new sister.
Great Harry,
have your parents picked out a name?
Yes,
Ruby, he says.
Like Ruby Tuesday, he continues.
Ruby Tuesday? I exclaim.
Yes, he says.
I turned to Cheri and say,
remember that
song?
Vaguely, she says.
You know,
there’s no time to lose,
I heard her say,
catch your dreams before
they slip away.
There was a lot going on that night, she says.
Remember, you had
to call the tow truck to get the
car pulled out of the sand.
Oh yeah,
Well, anyway,
That’s what I’ll say
to Ruby
when she’s growing up.
There’s no time to lose,
I will say,
catch your dreams before the they slip away,
dying all the time,
lose your dreams and lose your mind.
That particular lyric is true,
but too edgy for anyone.
Catch your dreams
before they slip away.
Yes, that’s what I’ll say
to Little Ruby,
Little Ruby Tuesday.
To Harry’s little sister
that’s what I’ll say.
There’s no time to lose,
catch your dreams before they
slip away.