Memories for February: She sang!

A few weeks ago we were sitting in church singing the opening hymn.  Caught up in the joy of the music, I was singing my heart out until one of my children gave me a sharp nudge in the side.  "Mom, " she said, "shhhhhhhh!  You are singing way too loud."  And all of a sudden I was transported back 25 years or so to a time when I said the exact same thing to my mom as we sat together in church.

My mom loved to sing.  And she would put her whole heart and soul into singing the hynms at church.  To this day, I cannot hear the hymn "Let Us All Press On" without thinking of her...and on the part where the sopranos come in with "Courage, for the Lord is on our side,"  it is almost like she is right there, singing along with me.

My mom always sang in the ward choir.  She absolutely loved it and rarely missed a performance or practice.  She hadn't had a lot of formal musical training, but she made up for it with enthusiasm and gusto.  If she was leading the music, watch out...because if you weren't singing, she wasn't above stopping and starting over so that you could join in.  Her very favorite calling (assignment) in the Church was Primay Music Leader, and it is the calling that she was serving in when she passed away.  She loved to teach children to sing.  Incidentally, that is the calling that I have right now...and I have absolutely loved being able to follow in her footsteps in that way.

My mom loved all kinds of music.  She supported all four of her children through many years of piano lessons.  She loved seeing us in the high school choirs and found so much joy in our experiences there.  She often said that if you wanted to be fulfilled, you should sing in a choir.  My mom loved jazz music (The Breeze 97.9 which I am told no longer exists?).  I can still see her cruising around town in our tan explorer with her jazz music on...and she was dancing...and we were rolling our eyes at our mom trying to be cool.  And now I do the same thing with my kids.  Love the memories.

(The caption on this picture from 1980 said, "Bringing the piano home"...I'm not sure where we got it from?  I'll have to find out more details)

One day, my mom and I are going to sing together again...and my kids better be ready because I won't be holding back, and we will belt out our hymns together in our loud, slightly untrained soprano voices...and it will be oh so beautiful!

(One more picture because it is so cute from 1982- Chris holding Katy, Melissa on the left in overalls and me on the right wearing an ET shirt)