Music

This morning I woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Actually, this whole week has been a “Wrong side of the bed” kind of a week. Despite having pound cake with blueberry sauce, raspberries and cinnamon whipped cream (all made my me), I was still just a grouch (and that’s putting it nicely). I thought it best to keep me and my grouchy self home from church today, so I did just that. DH and the older two headed off to Sabbath School and church while DS2 and I stayed at home. It was just about time for his nap when the others left, so I popped him into a carrier and he was out cold in about 2 minutes.

Now, he’s not exactly a good sleeper. (I’m just about ready to dub him the worst. sleeper. ever. Even worse than DS1, and that BAD!) As of late, he has pretty much refused to stay asleep unless he was in a carrier. Philosophically I have no issues with this, my back, on the other hand, has other thoughts on the matter. So today, I decided to put him on the front, just for a change of pace. This, of course, meant that I was limited in what I could do while he slept. I parked myself at the kitchen table with my computer and started organizing photos and working on collages and such for the blog. Since it’s Sabbath, I was listening to Sabbathy music, Point of Grace, I think . . or maybe it was Glad. . . I can’t quite remember. (Which is sad since it was a mere 2 hours ago!) Anyway, I was happily humming along and working on photos until the CD ended. What to listen to next? Hmmmm . . . .ah, yes, Mozart Grand Mass in c minor.

The music started playing and I continued my little project. (The little guy was still happily sawing logs, snuggled up in a kangaroo carry.) Slowly, I found myself working on the project less and less, and waving my arms around (conducting) and singing more and more. I finally gave up on the project and just went and got the score to sing along. And that brings me to my first point. . . .

I’m a music nerd. I love music. I love singing it. I love being a part of it. I loved teaching it. I love its intellectual nature. It is an inextricable part of who I am. If you stripped me down to my very essence, music would be a part of it.

But, if you were a fly on the wall in our home, you would find the above statements shocking, maybe even laughable. You’d be thinking, “Really? How can that be? I’ve only heard her sing maybe once or twice, and the only people that pick CD’s to play are the kids. What is this woman smoking?” And that bring me to my next point . . . .

In the few years that I’ve been a parent, music and the performance of said has taken a back seat. So much so, that most of the people that I’ve met since becoming a parent have no idea that I’m a musician. In fact, upon discovering that music was my thing, a good friend said to me, utterly shocked, “You sing opera?” “Yes, yes I do. Or at least, I did.” And that brings me to my final point . . . .

I need to bring the music back. Sure, it would be nice to actually practice, but I don’t see that happening anytime in the near future. I CAN, however, play more of my fav CD’s in the house and car, I can spend more time singing with the kiddies and exposing them to the music that makes me happy. This same music that took my grouchy mood of this morning and turned it completely around. So that is my goal for this next month, bring the music back. I’m certain that doing so will dramatically improve the mood of everyone in our family, which is just a very, good thing.

Wish me luck!