Love You Forever was written by Canadian author Robert Munsch, and published in 1986; it tells the story of a relationship between a mother and her son as they both age and grow. For many it is a sweet and heartwarming tale of how deeply a parent’s love can be and how long it can endure, and for others it is a creepy tale of an obsessive mother who breaks into her grown son’s home to rock him in his sleep.
It has sold millions of copies all over the world and has been a popular children’s book since its publication, but we readers had no idea where the book’s inspiration first came until now.
Before the book was written, Munsch would recite a four-line poem-a personal heartbreaking four lines that he would sing to himself in honour of his and his wife’s tragic loss of their second baby. For a while the song was too painful to sing out loud, and Munsch couldn’t even share it with his wife for fear it would hurt her too.
“[The song] was my way of crying,” Munsch said as he spoke to The Huffington Post.
“I’ll love you forever
I’ll like you for always
As long as I’m living
my baby you’ll be”
Doctors told the couple after their second stillbirth that they would not be able to conceive and of course this news was devastating- especially since Munsch was a nurturing and loving man who adored children. Munsch, who held a degree in Child Studies, had also worked in orphanages, and spent most of his life to writing books for children.
He told Huffington Post of how it felt when he was told they would never conceive and birth a child naturally: “You know when someone walks up to you and gives you a sucker punch right in the solar plexus? [It felt] like that.”
Thankfully the couple were not put off raising children after their awful news and went on to adopt three children. The four line poem stayed hidden with Munsch as he remembered their lost children, but one day a story came to him.
“My stories come gradually through storytelling. This one came all of a sudden.”
Often performing his material in front of an audience, Munsch found the song was in the back of his mind while he was performing at a theatre. He decided to make up a story to accompany the song as he went, and “Love You Forever” was created there on stage.
It was the first time anyone, including Ann, his wife, heard the now recognisable song, and Munsch says the room really felt the emotion of the story.
Munsch took the story to his publisher but they turned it down, saying it was too dark for the children’s genre. Luckily his distributer loved the book and decided to publish it himself.
“He said when he read it, he just felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up.”
Our hearts go out to Robert and Ann, for the strength it takes to get through the grief of losing children, and the love they have for the children they have now.
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