Dedicated to Susan, who could not keep a promise to attend her neices Graduation in May.

This story was a bit hard for me to write, but glad I did.. It helps heal..

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~"LAST DATE"~

�:*�`����`*:��� Lois Caywood Guffy ���:*�`����`*:�

In November of 1960, my daddy made a "Last Date" with me at the time the song "Last Date" was at the top of the music charts. I had invited daddy and mama to our home for dinner on Saturday, November 5. Daddy said he would let me know if they could come.

On Thursday, just two days prior to our "date" daddy died suddenly from a massive heart attack on. He died just minutes after he mailed a postcard to me telling me they would be able to come. I received his card the next day after he died. I was devastated when it came. He was only 58 years old. I was attending his funeral at the very time we should have been eating dinner together.

In 1996 while visiting our son and family in Seattle WA, I had the fortune of sitting within a few feet of Floyd Cramer at one of his concerts. �It had always been a dream of mine to see him and hear him play the piano.

It was so accidental too, as my son, daughter in-law and I were at a mall where we noticed a group of people who were promoting seasonal tickets to see artists such as Cramer perform. For some reason I was attracted to the booth and started talking to a lady about how I would love to see the Floyd Cramer Show. She told me he was playing that weekend, but the show was booked solid for the days I was to be there. I told her about the story of my daddy and our "Last Date". She was visibly touched.

We chatted a few minutes and she said ' I have two passes for the Cramer show for Friday night that I can not use, because I have to go to a wedding and I will let you use my season pass". I hesitated because I felt it was an obligation on her part. She insisted that I should go in her and her husband's place. She did not have the passes with her and told me she would place them in my son's mail box as she went to work the next day. I was surprised that she would trust a complete stranger with their valuable passes.

As she promised, the passes were in the mailbox the next morning. My daughter in law and I went to the concert and of course, by her being a promoter of the program, we got front row seats. We were given a program at the door that listed the songs Floyd was to play. The "Last Date" was not listed among them. I was really disappointed, but still "drank in" the music he played that I knew and loved so very much.

At the very end of his concert, he said he would play some songs that were not listed on the program, and yes, the very last song he played was "The Last Date". I sat there with tears streaming down my face remembering my daddy's unfulfilled "Last Date" promise to me. I never hear that song without thinking of it being played over and over the fateful day that my daddy died. It is odd that sometimes when I am very down or sad, that song will pop on the radio, as if to tell me that daddy still cares and everything will be OK.