Rick and I were going steady the summer after high school graduation. He had a job with the Del Rosa Hot Shots, a forest service fire fighting crew, and he could seldom get home. I spent that summer moping around reading the love letters that arrived daily and listening to Elvis sing “Heartbreak Hotel” over and over…at FULL volume (much to my father’s disgust)
When Rick could get home…arriving with tired eyes, still grimy and smelling of smoke…we’d fly into each other’s arms like a couple of those little Scottie magnets! And in the background would be the sound of “Heartbreak Hotel.”…….We were eighteen years old that summer….
So given that Elvis had shared my loneliness for a whole summer…it seemed only right that we should stop by and pay our respects at Graceland.
Elvis was only 22 years old the year he bought this house….only a boy really, and already world famous. He’d come to this…from a truly poor family.Maybe youth and background account for the ‘decorating’ of that house. It certainly is different…Let’s just say it would give most home decorators a heart attack! Sort of leans toward sequins and bright red and his fur covered circular bed. But, according to Lisa Marie the house was filled with vitality and energy, life and love. And that’s what makes a house a home.
The gravesite was touching. Floral offerings are still arriving everyday! Amazing the induring power of that man and his distinctive voice….
I know that when I hear “Heartbreak Hotel’ I still takes me back to a summer…long ago.