Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway offers her insights on love, relationship and how to feel like a hot tomato with wisdom and humor. As our Love and Relationships columnist, this author, interfaith minister, wedding officiant and love coach covers the gamut between marriage and menopause, romance and dating, and sex and spirituality.

She is author of 12 books, including: The Goddess Pages: A Divine Guide to Finding Love and Happiness (Llewellyn, November 2008); Pet Prayers and Blessings: Ceremonies and Celebrations to Share with the Animals You Love (Sterling Books, September 2008); Wedding Goddess: A Guide to Turning Wedding Stress Into Wedding Bliss (Penguin, 2005); and Release the Seductress Within: How to Seduce A Man and Thrill You Both (Random House, 2004). She is also author of  the e-course Find Your Spiritual Soulmate.

Laurie Sue has a very active wedding ministry in New York, marrying couples of all faiths and backgrounds. And she is coach and creator of The Soulmate Project on Beliefnet.com. She is editor of Wedlok.com.

Prior to being ordained, she enjoyed a colorful career as a journalist writing for women. She was editor-in-chief of Playgirl and Single Living, and managing editor of Women’s News. She's written for NY Daily News, Denver Post, Washington Post, Philadelphia Inquirer, Ladies' Homes Journal and Woman's World.

She returned to school - seminary school - at 40 to become an interfaith minister. It was there that she met her husband, Rev. Victor Fuhrman. She married her true love at 48.



Wisdom and Humorous Insights on
Love and Relationships
from
Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway
The NYC Insiders Guide
for women who aren't kids
Books by Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway
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My Night in White Satin
With Hubby and The Moody Blues













My husband is a huge Moody Blues fan.  As a soulful and romantic kind of guy, he finds their music highly spiritual and loves that they have great songs about soul mates.

He has a not-so-secret passion for quoting Moody Blues lyrics—often. He will speak them, in his sexy radio guy/orator voice, when he teaches or just in conversation. And, from time to time he sings along to them out loud, looking into my eyes.

So it may come as no surprise that he has been wooing me with Moody Blues lyrics since the day after our first date 10 years ago, when he sent me an e-mail telling me he felt that our relationship was meant to be. He encouraged me to relax  (stop being so uptight)  about surrendering to love and shared some sentiments from Justin Hayward, lead singer and writer for the Moody Blues:

“Like a bird on a far distant mountain
Like a ship on an uncharted sea
You are lost in the arms that have found you
Don't be afraid
Love's plans are made
Oh don't be afraid

If there's a time
And a place to begin love
It must be now
Let it go
Set it free”
--Justin Hayward, from "I Dreamed Last Night", Moody Blues

Be still my beating heart. I really did not even know exactly what those lyrics meant or where they would lead us at the time, but I thought they were a pretty profound sentiment to share after a first date. They definitely drove home the point that he was serious about our relationship.

As our love grew, there would be other songs that would become anthems of our relationship. Even though I grew up in the “Nights in White Satin” era, I did not give a whole lot of thought to the band that created it.  But hubby always seemed to have a Justin Hayward lyric handy and in the past few years I came to appreciate the words of love and self-love that are the hallmark of Moody Blues songs.

So this summer, hubby took me to a Moody Blues concert.





















I have to admit, I was afraid to go. I remembered the rock concerts of my teens, when everyone was drinking beer, the smell of pot and alcohol was in the air and inevitably, someone was throwing up close by.  Boys would drink and get rowdy. People pushed each other. The bathroom lines were hideous.  This was considered fun when you are fifteen -- not so much fun in your fifties.

In my mind, I was thinking that once again the kids would be rowdy. I haven’t even had a drink since the nineties, so I was not interested in being around any craziness.  But I also have not been to a rock concert since forever.  I guess I was sort of living on another planet about today’s rock concerts with vintage rockers.   It simply did not dawn on me that the people who were Moody Blues fans in the sixties and seventies are the very same “kids” who would attend their concert.

So we get on line at Radio City Music Hall and I see a poster of the Moody Blues, featuring Justin Hayward, John Lodge and Graeme Edge, all of the original group. They have been together for four decades, and I felt a little startled that they were such hot Tomato  guys.  I hadn’t seen photos of them in years.

Then I notice the folks on line were kind of gray, some balding and all adult-looking.  Except for a handful with long hair and rock ‘n roll attire, most looked like they were coming from work or the suburbs on this hot summer day. I turned to my husband and said, “Oh my, they look like us.”

We get inside and the place fills with fans—mostly the original fans, I would say.  Some brought their adult children to share the music with the next generation, but most seemed to have left the kids at home. I wondered where the 15 year olds were.  Turns out they were among us – in the guise of parents and grandparents whose teenage souls came alive with the music.

Some were carrying drinks from the bar, with glow in the dark swizzle sticks. These would later be used to hoist into the air – the way we used to raise our lighters.  Everything seemed so elegant at Radio City Music Hall—compared to those days I recalled from Nassau Coliseum, Madison Squire Garden and outdoor arenas and parks -- and everyone seemed to be following the rules.

The Moody Blues were totally awesome and entertaining.  While hubby serenaded me through much of the concert, it was so cool to hear Justin Hayward belt out those lyrics. His voice is still amazing.

The Moody Blues began when they were in their twenties. Hayward is now 62 and his band mates are all in their sixties. They are still great rock stars, but, except for the leather-pants-clad guitarist John Lodge, they do not look overtly rocker-like, which adds to their charm.  See photos of the concert:


I loved the concert. But truly, one of the best parts was seeing guys and gals of a certain age standing up and rocking to the music in Radio City Music Hall.  When I would look around at the true expression of joy and fun, I kept imagining each person as a teenager, rocking out to the Moody Blues for the first time four decades ago. This concert brought out the part of us that remembered when life was, well, all about concerts.  The trials and tribulations of adulthood seemed to fall away for a couple of hours.

Drummer Graeme Edge, 68, came down from his drum set to do a couple of numbers.  He danced like a wild man. But before he did he said: “It’s still drugs, sex and rock ‘n roll... but the drug is Viagra.”

I leave you with the Moody Blues performing “Story in Your Eyes.”