Friday, March 25, 2011

Flash Back Friday

Tomorrow we are going to see Lion KIng on broadway in NYC.  My MIL goes with her classes every year - she is a middle school gifted arts teacher - and for the last few years we have gone too.  This will be Tatie's first year, we're so excited for her, she will love it.  She loves musicals - at Christmastime we went to see Les Miserables at the Papermill - she is Eponine when she sings along to the soundtrack.  She empathizes with the characters experiencing great tragedy.  I don't know why, she just likes them the best.  Bailey of course, loves whoever is closest to a princess.

Anyway, every single time we go to anything like this, I think of my dad.  He loved music, he loved plays....well, if they were good.  I laugh thinking what he would say listening to our kids choir at church.  The kids try, and they are all so precious, but it is what it is - a kids choir.  It hurt his ears to hear music if the "intonation" was off.  Or if one person sang louder than the others.  And it hurt his eyes to see someone tapping their foot - he said true musicians keep rhythm inside, they don't need to tap their feet.  He just was so terribly opinionated, because he valued good music so much.  And he was good - amazing, actually.

Music was the love of his life.  He loved his family - but we had a lot of stress in our home, and he had a lot of stress growing up too.  Music embraced him.  Music only made him feel good.  Choirs throughout all of Jersey wanted him, and he had special solo engagements too.  He could play almost any instrument, and we had many - even a baby grand piano and 2 upright pianos.  I know!!  But that's how much he loved music.  Unfortunately, as much as he wanted my brother Andy and I to follow in his footsteps, he wasn't a good teacher and both Andy and I really dropped our involvement in band and choir as soon as we were able to.  My dad wanted us to practice for hours, and it was very hard for him to hear us mess up.  Which of course we did.  Both Andy and I love music now - albeit in very different ways!  I wish I could tell my dad how much I love music, how I value it in my life.  I put my Chopin on every morning.  I'm trying to raise my girls to love music too, and they seem to, especially Taylor.  I wonder what Dad would say about Tatie belting out her showtunes, without a care in the world for "intonation."  I guess it doesn't matter what he'd say - she wouldn't care about that either.

He would have loved going to see Lion King with the family.  I'll think of him tomorrow.  I wish he would've had a chance to be a Grandpa, I really believe he would've been a good one.  But this much is for sure -- if he had tried to correct Taylor, they would've gone head-to-head, I think she may be just as stubborn as he was.  But he would've been proud of her - and of Bailey - and that much is for sure too.

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