I fell in love with John Denver when I was a little girl and he was a chart-topping musician whose art touched country, pop, and folk.  He sang poetry that spoke to my heart because it was about connecting with the natural world.  There I was as a little girl growing up in the disco era who spent her summer days in the backyard gardens and her summer nights listening to the insistent insects how defined my dad's bug zapper.

John Denver's lyrics assured me my vision of life--an experience of being part of a large, mysterious, interconnected web of wonder--were grounded in reality.  

In elementary school, my music teacher also loved John Denver's music, and she had us singing his tunes.  At the end of those years, she had us singing songs from Denver's I Want to Live album.  She invested us in poetry about what it means to be alive, what it means to be fellow traveler on Earth.  I bought that album with my saved-up allowance money.

In the quiet place of my bedroom, I would play my John Denver albums, and  I would commit his lyrics to memory.  I remember unwrapping those albums and then listening to the songs and reading along with the album notes.  Over and over again, he gave me heart.

At that time, my friends where listening to Journey, Foreigner, Yes, Donna Summer, Chicago.  Whatever.  They were listening to the cool stuff while I was gluing my ear to every word of the poet.

This was a time when my mom and dad took me out on Long Island Sound to explore the islands and to come to know the wonders of the ocean.  The combination taught me to love the natural world, to know that love makes the world, and to believe in the wonder of nature.

John Denver assured me through his music that my heart would have its home.