What About Love

Just been sitting here having the longest, ugliest cry I’ve had in a while. Was looking for something to watch on YouTube when I stumbled upon a video a fan had made of Ann and Nancy Wilson on tour at a venue in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The thumbnail for the video was what triggered the crying:

That’s the best I could do. What you’re looking at is Ann Wilson, wheelchair bound with one arm in a sling. I was aware of her cancer diagnosis for a while now, and, just like I do every time I hear that someone has cancer, I always expect the worst but hope for the best. Seeing her like this just broke me, but I’m used to the version of her that is full of life and energy. The absolute legend that sang Stairway to Heaven to the remaining members of Led Zeppelin that moves me in something of a religious experience every time I watch her sing it.

Instead, here we have a woman that’s on the mend from cancer and a broken elbow, hence the arm sling. Finding that through Google is probably the only useful thing A.I. has done for me, helping me calm my fears and such. I was happy to learn that her cancer treatments were finished last year, and she survived, but the broken elbow was more recent. At least she’s still tough as nails in her 70’s.

What I first interpreted as a picture of a sick and dying woman is actually a picture of a defiant woman who is ready to move on with her life and medical setbacks be damned. Her being on stage like that is her saying “I’m still here” and I’m glad she is. I’ve listened to Heart my entire life and I agree with the caption in the first picture, Heart just isn’t Heart if both of the Wilson sisters aren’t there.