08/03/2026
Nineteen years ago, a little independent Irish film called Once starring Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová,quietly changed the course of my life.
I’d seen the film before meeting my husband and was so captivated by its honesty, tenderness, and music that I insisted he watch it before our first date. It seemed like an unusual request at the time, but somehow it became the perfect beginning to our story.
As our relationship unfolded, so did our love for the soundtrack. “Falling Slowly” became our song. We learned the vocals and guitar together, and on our third date we drove to the UCLA campus, guitar in hand, and sang and played our way through the entire soundtrack. Looking back, I think we were falling slowly in every sense of the phrase.
When we married, Falling Slowly was the music I walked down the aisle to. Years later, when Once was adapted for Broadway, seeing the stage production together felt like revisiting the beginning of our love story all over again.
This week, I was deeply saddened to hear of Glen Hansard’s sudden death. He died in a motorcycle crash near Dublin at age 56
His music wasn’t simply something we listened to—it became woven into the fabric of our lives, marking some of our most cherished memories together.
Some artists create songs. Others create soundtracks for people’s lives.
For us, Glen Hansard did both.
Thank you, Glen, for reminding us that the quietest songs often become the ones that stay with us forever.
