When You Say Nothing At All 

Updated April 11, 2023

This song was sung at our wedding over 24 years ago. It was not my choice. My husband picked it. He loved this song. I get what it meant to him but I didn't really agree 100% with the song. 

Here is why. Yesterday was a year and a half since I lost my husband to the Delta variant of Covid 19. It was a very fast and unexpected loss. We thought he had a bit of a cold that was triggering his asthma and his inhaler ran out. It was the weekend so he couldn't call his provider for a refill. I took him to the ER and he went in. (Alone, because "Covid rules") of course they had to test him to allow him in. He popped positive! We were shocked! Five days later he was dead.

Since then I have NOT missed the times he "said Nothing at all." In fact the quietness has been the hardest of all!

What I have missed most are the times we spent hours alone talking! Sitting across from each other in our living room with no one around, no distractions, just he and I sharing our hearts, our thoughts, our dreams, our memories. 

This is what I miss most of all! His voice, his laughter, the tone and inflection of his voice. The way he laughed so hard he would cry. The way he wasn't ashamed of his tears when he cried over things he had done wrong or his broken heart for his kids, family, friends or lost souls. These are the things I have missed the most in the last year and a half.

It's amazing how you can speak right to my heart
Without saying a word, you can light up the dark
Try as I may I could never explain
What I hear when you don't say a thing

The smile on your face lets me know that you need me
There's a truth in your eyes saying you'll never leave me
The touch of your hand says you'll catch me whenever I fall
You say it best.. when you say nothing at all

All day long I can hear people talking out loud
But when you hold me near, you drown out the crowd (the crowd)
Try as they may they can never define
What's been said between your heart and mine

The smile on your face lets me know that you need me
There's a truth in your eyes saying you'll never leave me
The touch of your hand says you'll catch me whenever I fall
You say it best.. when you say nothing at all

The smile on your face lets me know that you need me
There's a truth in your eyes saying you'll never leave me
The touch of your hand says you'll catch me whenever I fall
You say it best.. when you say nothing at all

(You say it best when you say nothing at all
You say it best when you say nothing at all..)

The smile on your face
The truth in your eyes
The touch of your hand
Let's me know that you need me..

by Ronan Keating