Third Of June

Because my days are so unpredictable, it's hard for me to plan on anything, even spending some time on my writing. June 3^rd did not have any specific importance for me, until 1997, when I heard the song "Third of June" by Corey Hart playing over the radio in a medical transport vehicle. Here's the story.

In July of 1997, I had my first hip replacement surgery, just five years after being initially diagnosed with Psoriatic Arthritis. This is relatively uncommon, to have this much joint damage occur in so little time and have a hip replaced at such a young age. I have yet to hear of anyone in my circle of autoimmune disease sufferers who have had joint replacement surgery in their twenties. At 27 years old, this was a significant turning point in my life. No longer would I be able to keep the disease at bay as I once had. The damage was done, and a new hip was in order. It was then that I realized that the gazelle in me was gone. I would never run again, and that was a hard pill to swallow. Ironically, this past June 3^rd was "Global Running Day". 

So, I've had the surgery and been hospitalized for 2 weeks. I've been discharged, strapped into a wheelchair, (a first for me) wheeled down to the lobby, raised on a hydraulic platform, and secured in place inside a medical transport vehicle that will be taking me to a rehabilitation hospital. These vehicles can carry several patients, but today, it's just the driver and me. It's a beautiful mid-July summer day, the sun is out, the birds are chirping, and people are walking around with a spring in their step. The driver has the radio on, and just as we are about to leave, this song comes on and carries me away. I sat there, physically immobilized, but my mind and spirit found themselves free, drifting on a summer breeze of melody and lyrics that left such an impression on me that I can still relive the feeling to this day. My whole life seemed to take on a new meaning. There was just something magical about that moment, a moment that cannot be created; it just happened.

I was facing the end of something - how I had seen my life playing out before becoming ill was vanishing. Imagine Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) in Back To The Future when he sees himself disappearing in the photograph that he has wedged in his guitar. Just before he vanishes completely, his father and mother kiss on the dance floor, and he is instantly saved and reborn. I was being forced to face a new beginning, one with challenges that I could never have anticipated.

The drifting along with the song was bittersweet. The lyrics "As my kingdom crumbles down, inside I feel my life begin" captured what I was feeling, which was the knowledge that a part of my body was gone forever, but also knowing that I had been given a second lease on life. I guess at that moment, kind of like how the Grinch's heart grew ten times its size when he suddenly saw the light, I gained some new perspective on life and perhaps became a little wiser that day. My life was beginning - again.

To this day, every year without fail, on the 3^rd of June, I secretly cue up the song on the stereo in our living room, and invite my wife to slow dance with me.  This year, the 3^rd of June happened to fall 2 days before the full moon, which is known as the Strawberry Moon at this time, so the moon was bright that night! This song takes me onto a journey into the past, present, and future. For me, only music can do this. One song can change a life forever. It has the power to transport and envelop someone in a way that cannot be described, only felt. Music is beautiful, pure, holistic, reverent, majestic, magnificent, and magical. It's all those things and more, rolled into one incredible mysterious human experience.

- Patrick Franc

a.k.a.: Your Friendly Neighbourhood Bionic Man