Last night as I was doing the dishes, the events of the last three days played over and over in my head. We had just officially launched the first-ever pet cremation facility in the entire Negros region, I was in awe of our accomplishment. I looked for a song on Spotify to listen to, and almost instantly I picked “Brighter than Sunshine” by Aqualung.

As soon as the intro played, I was immediately transported back in time to the last quarter of 2016. Bishop, our 12 year old angel of a Labrador Retriever, had just passed away and I was desperately trying to make a tribute video, selecting this particular song as the background music. No matter how hard I tried to concentrate and will myself into making the video, I would always end up in tears. Eight years later and I am still trying to finish this video, never really going beyond 20% before being reduced to tears again and again. I surprise myself at just how long Bishop’s passing has affected me, at how I can’t seem to stop missing him…even now as I am writing this, I am already teary-eyed.

So there I was, doing the dishes, listening intently to every stanza, every word of this song, and it dawned on me…maybe it was not pure coincidence that I picked this song for Bishop’s video. As the song repeated, I realized its meaning, at least its meaning for me. It’s a song that Bishop and I can sing to each other to communicate our love, our friendship, our seemingly unbreakable bond.

I’d be singing these lines to him:

I never understood before.
I never knew what love was for.
My heart was broke, my head was sore –
What a feeling.

Tied up in ancient history,
I didn’t believe in destiny.
(I grew up with pets, all kinds, and have always had my heart broken when they cross the rainbow bridge)

And he would reply with:

I look up, you’re standing next to me –
What a feeling.

Me:

What a feeling in my soul –
Love burns brighter than sunshine,
Brighter than sunshine.

Bishop:

Let the rain fall, I don’t care.
I’m yours, and certainly you’re mine.
Suddenly, you’re mine;
And it’s brighter than sunshine.

Me:

I didn’t have the strength to fight.
Suddenly, you seemed so right.
Me and you –
What a feeling.

Bishop:

Love will remain a mystery,
But give me your hand, and you will see.
Your heart is keeping time with me.

Bishop was a yellow Lab, like the sun right before it turns yellow, connecting him to this song even more. I doubt that I will ever get tired of listening to this song, that I will stop feeling these emotions, reliving times spent with him and stop wishing I could be with him one more time.

This morning as I started the car to go work, my smartphone auto-connected with the car stereo and played this song and I knew I had to share this to whoever is willing to listen. If you have a song that evokes emotions and feelings like this song does to me, I’d like to know.