***I wrote this yesterday, but for some reason it didn’t publish.***

Today is the 35th anniversary of Elvis’s death.  In honor of the King Of Rock ‘n Roll, I donned my Elvis t-shirt I got at Graceland when Ryan and I went for our anniversary in 2009.My trip to Graceland was one of the best trips of my life.  I couldn’t believe I was walking where Elvis walked.  I so wanted to take something from Graceland and stuff it in my pocket, but I knew that would be frowned upon and I really didn’t want to be on the banned list at Graceland.

Instead of stealing things, I walked around like this all weekend:I smiled a lot that weekend.  Ryan completely went along with me watching multiple Elvis Tribute Artists.  We walked up and down Beale Street going from bar to bar and I would ask, “Can we go see another Elvis?”  To my surprise and delight, he would respond, “Yeah.”

Not that Ryan really had a choice; there weren’t any other options as far as entertainment at that time.  It was the weekend before the start of Elvis Week in Memphis.  Ryan’s favorite comment was, “You can’t swing a dead cat without hitting an Elvis.”

One of the better Elvis impersonators was this guy:I didn’t want to go up and have my picture taken with him because I was afraid that his talking voice wouldn’t sound like Elvis’s and it would have ruined it for me.  As it turns out, he was staying at the same hotel as we were.  During happy hour later that day, I sat and stared at him, but still kept my distance so I couldn’t hear him talk.

Who knows what music would be like today had Elvis not died.  Who knows how Memphis would survive as a city had Elvis not died.  Who knows who would make me smile like this if Elvis had not died.