My Heart Will Go On….and on and on and on…

So I have a confession to make.  When I was 16 years-old I saw the movie Titanic 6.5 times in the movie theatre.  (The other half of the confession is that the .5 time is because I snuck in to watch the second half after having watched another movie).  I don’t know why I was so obsessed with Titanic at that time- but I was. I remember sobbing each time I watched it, and even told one of my friends that I kept watching with the hopes that it was going to end differently!! But wouldn’t you know- the boat still sank and Kate still let Jack go…and I gave the movie theatre way too much of my money.

So why am I now thinking of this film, more than 10 years later?  Because the theme song has come to haunt my life in Ukraine. I’ll let you in on a secret…Ukrainians LOVE the song My Heart Will Go On and consider it a classic American ballad. I too loved the song, when I was 16, and over-played it soooo much then, that I got sick of it! So when I came to Ukraine I was shocked by how much they love this song.

Confession number two: I have performed this song  in public on more than one occasion in Ukraine.  At our office in Kiev we have birthday celebrations once a month and one time they asked me to sing “the song”, to one of those really cheesy back ground tracks.  There was part of me that was cringing inside as I sang this “ballad”- knowing that my American friends would be dying in laughter- but the other part of me secretly enjoyed it- I mean, who doesn’t want the chance to pretend to be Celine Dion for a few moments in a foreign country without your American friends ever knowing?! 

This summer at one of our summer camps, I was playing the guitar and singing with some of our girls when they all eagerly asked, - “ohhh can you sing the Titanic song?”

- “Really?” I asked, “that song, you really want me to sing that song?”

- “YES!!!! It is our favorite,” they all chant. 

-“Oh boy…” I think, “here we go again!”

So on multiple ocassions this summer I was found singing the “Titanic song” to a crowd of adoring teenage girls. The best was when they said I sounded better than Celine Dion! (Don’t worry, I won’t let my adoring teenage Ukrainian fans go to my head—I know I’m a far cry from Celine :).)

That brings me today…a girl I work with comes into my office and says, “Karen, there is a song I really want to sing and I really would like your help with the pronunciation.” 

- “Okay” I respond, “What is it?”

I really shouldn’t have even asked… 

Maybe I had this coming to me…after all I did see the movie 6.5 times in the movie theatre! So I guess this will keep going on…and on…and on.