The Family that Plays Together

I grew up in a musical family. Singing with my Mom was a regular thing. When I was away at school she would send me songs to check out (not so easy in those days). When I came home from school she would play them and I would sing through them. Today her hands are arthritic so she only listens.

I play the piano (with much less skill than my mother) as my daughter and I sing through songs we discover. Tonight we sang through Adele's "To Make You Feel My Love". I'm struggling to put into words just what this all means to me. Making music with my mother and my siblings made me who I am. The fact that the children whom my musician husband and I made together, also make music with us and with each other, feels like the most important thing I've accomplished. 

A friend told me recently that he spends a lot of time these days thinking about legacy. I never called it that, but I have always had some ill defined vision of what it was I was meant to do here on earth. I sensed that it involved music, but it seems it was always "out there" somewhere - just beyond my reach - some achievement which was better than anything I've yet to accomplish. But tonight I see clearly that sometimes life is not only as John Lennon says, "what you're doing while you're making other plans"; but also the thing you do every day. Sometimes a miracle is unfolding at your fingertips and you don't even realize it. Like a spider with a gossamer web, intricately and uniquely woven between me and each member of my family - this delicate connection to catch what life throws at us is essential to our well being. This is home. This is love. This is life. 

 

Comments

[Karin snitz]

This is your legacy to give love through music and thus bring others loveand this my friend is the. If le of life. You are perpetuating the beauty of the circle. Thank you your children will create their own circles. and think
How many get to enjoy a moment in your circle and the circles each of you create . Renee circle is still drawing people in. How amazing and wonderful this is life! Embrace cherish it and keep on singing ❤️🎼🎶

[Danielle]

This, I understand! When my kids were little, I dreamed of road trips spent filling the car with music together. How sweet it has been to hear my bigger kids singing together as they do the dishes or jamming together at the piano. And, yes, I remember thanking God one particular Sunday morning as I began a hymn on the way to church and every voice in the car joined in harmony to make my dream come true! I may have even stopped singing, just so I could take it all in.