Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘music’

Slice of Life: A Wig for Christmas

Posted in being mamére, Gratitude, Poetry, Slice of Life, tagged , , , , , , on December 24, 2024| 6 Comments »

Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share.

When I was 12 years old, all I wanted in this world was long hair. My hair was shoulder length with an uncontrollable wave right near my earlobe. But I could not grow long, luscious locks like other girls. So I asked my mother (Santa) for a wig. On Christmas Day, my wish came true. I remember wearing that long blond wig and being humiliated by comments from other kids. Shamed, disappointed, dreams dashed, I never wore the wig again.

Yesterday my now 4 year old granddaughter got an Elsa wig for her birthday. Oh, how Stella longs for long hair. My daughter tells me she wears her swimming cap with the fabric along the sides to pretend to have long hair, so the Elsa wig was an immediate hit. Stella didn’t wear it for long, but not because she was bullied about it. It just wasn’t practical for playing on the park’s ultimate tree house; you can’t roll around on a net without your hair falling off. I wish I could have been more like Stella when I was young.

Elsa “Stella”

I look at her boldness, her wild clothing choices, and her undying spirit of I’m-always-right, and feel hope for this new generation of girls. I hope we continue to raise girls who, like Stella, do what they want and stand up for what they believe in.

At the birthday party, my daughter was dressed like Stella requested, in two different animal prints. She looked amazing. Life is far from perfect these days, but watching my fierce daughter raise an equally fierce daughter gives me hope and delectation.* (Word of the day meaning a feeling of delight or enjoyment.)

At the party, I held the 4 month old daughter of one of my daughter’s friends. This poem came to me after reading the meaning of the word delectation.

Delectation
Holding the baby
small as a doll
seeing through her eyes
to the Aegean sea

feeling the weight of her
sink into my arms
wondering what kind of world
we are creating for her.

She smiles anyway,
grabs at the print of my shirt
rooting toward my breast
(a let-down tingles)
and I relax, trusting

as this infant trusts
she will be safe.

Margaret Simon, draft

Read Full Post »

Slice of Life: Music Memory

Posted in Slice of Life, Writing, tagged , , on October 3, 2023| 10 Comments »

Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share.
Photo by Bryan Geraldo on Pexels.com

Music is my mother’s memory. She was a pianist. When I was a teenager, she went back to school to get her masters in piano. She was always teaching and playing piano and singing in the choir at church on Sundays.

Last weekend my sister, my niece, and I drove up to Mississippi to visit her. She recognized us as people she loved dearly. Her conversations were choppy, a thought would begin but derail before she could finish the sentence. But music is still her love language.

Watching the LSU game together in the hotel lobby, we started “bom, bom, ba-bom, ba” the tune for the fight song and she joyfully joined in. At church she popped up from sitting to sing the service music in perfect tune. My sister played a song she knew Mom loved on the radio, so we could all sing along.

NPR did a report recently about a son who plays the guitar and sings for his mother with Alzheimer’s. (A four-minute listen at this link.) My brother is a musician. He plays keyboards with a band, with another artist, or alone. He makes sure Mom gets to as many gigs as she can, especially the ones he does in senior living facilities.

I was a little wary of my visit this time because my brother had reported that she is worse (She had a bout of Covid a month ago.), but her light is still there. It comes on when she hears familiar music. It shines when she sees my face. My sister and I are baffled by how one minute our mother seems far away, out of touch with the world. And the next she will say something completely logical and true. We are blessed that our mother is getting good care, and she is mostly happy. I admit to tearing up, though, when she was singing. It was then that I saw the person I long for, the one I miss.

I follow storytellersgallery on Instagram. He posts a photo and poem daily. This one spoke to me.

Already Gone.

i wish i could understand
how you feel
i wish i could feel
what you’re missing here

i always feel like we’re doing okay
that no matter what
i know it could be worse

but i’m getting the idea
that maybe you don’t agree
i think you know i would give you
anything and everything
but i’m learning that maybe
that’s not enough
and maybe that’s why
it feels like you’re already gone

Brian Fuller
bfullerfoto.com
Kosse, TX
May 2020

Read Full Post »

Celebrating Courage

Posted in Celebration Saturday, tagged , , , on July 12, 2014| 11 Comments »

    Discover. Play. Build.

Ruth Ayres invites us the celebrate each week. Click over to her site Discover. Play. Build. to read more celebrations.

Mustering up a lion’s share of courage, I volunteered to sing a solo in church this Sunday. I selected “I Shall not Want” by Audrey Assad. Well, the problem is I am not Audrey Assad or Stevie Nicks or Allison Krauss. No, I’m just little ole me.

When I ran into my friend Anne, I told her about taking a leap of faith to sing this song in church. She offered to give me some voice lessons. I want to celebrate what I have learned from her this week.

  • Breathe deeply, all the way to your diaphragm.
  • Reach beyond.
  • Open your mouth.
  • Smile!
  • Think of yourself as a gift.
  • The audience (congregation) is rooting for you.
  • You are who you are today.  Yes, you will be better tomorrow, but today you are the best you can be.
  • Accept your mistakes as part of a growth process.
  • Putting your work out there is important to the universe.

These lessons are good lessons for any kind of artistic endeavor, painting, writing, singing, dancing.  They all require courage and confidence.  I want to thank Anne for not only the awesome voice lessons, but for the helpful life lessons.

And now that I’ve told the world, I will envision all you supporting me tomorrow up in the loft with the heavenly choir.

Eleanor Roosevelt quote

Read Full Post »