I am sitting in the very back row of a dark chapel with my arm around my daughter’s shoulders, sandwiched between strangers towards the end of the pew.* The chapel itself is similar to church buildings I have worshiped in all my life and I am there for a baptismal service like many I have attended before. What is unusual about this particular service in this specific chapel on this precise day is that, outside of my daughter, I don’t…
It’s a beautiful, sunny afternoon. I am outside on the driveway with my youngest daughter, on my knees making shamrocks and rainbows out of sidewalk chalk. It is St. Patrick’s Day, after all. She adds a big pot of gold at the end of her rainbow. I add mountains and meadows below mine. My daughter cheerfully compliments me on my coloring skills, and asks me to trace the outline of her body. I have her trace me, too, and we…
One of my daughters just turned fourteen, which has me thinking about the year I turned fourteen. I was a freshman in high school (I was always the youngest one in my grade) and my older sister was a senior. Our school was not within walking distance of any fast-food or commercial locations, so only juniors and seniors were accorded off-campus privileges. That year, my sister gave me the simple gift of taking me out to lunch with her friends…
“Let’s start at the very beginning, A very good place to start. When you read you begin with A, B, C, When you sing you begin with do-re-mi.” — “Do-Re-Mi,” The Sound of Music This week I was helping my daughter prepare for a choir audition, which included practicing sight singing using Solfege syllables and hand signs. If you’ve never heard of Solfege (never mind knowing how to pronounce it!), never fear. I hadn’t either until about three years ago. …