When I saw that Johnny Mathis would be playing at my university this spring an involuntary and tender "Aw-w-w" escaped from my lips and I immediately marked the date in my calendar. How many nights in my adolescent years did I listen to his LPs while lying on my bed daydreaming about one boy or another?? Johnny Mathis!! King of the romantic, old school ballad. So many great songs! I couldn't wait.
The sold-out concert was Sunday night. Johnny still looks good, still has that silky smooth voice and I could mouth every lyric of songs I had not heard in decades: Chances Are, Embraceable You, Its Not For Me to Say, Misty, Almost Like Being in Love.... Sadly Mother Nature did not cooperate. The previous Friday I had come down with a nasty flu-like bug and had been miserable sneezing, coughing and feeling feverish. My fever broke on Sunday and I felt slightly better, so I drugged up on cold meds and hoped for the best. But as the show went on I could feel a coughing jag about to come on as my breath rasped in my congested lungs. I was mid-row so wouldn't be able to dash out if I started to disrupt a sentimental song. So at intermission I had to leave even though I knew there were great songs yet to come. Although my voice was barely a croak, as I was leaving I was singing in my head "Look at me, I'm as helpless as a kitten up a tree....". To bad it was due to the flu rather than falling in love.
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