Melodious Memories

Music has always been special to me. Like a comforting quilt, the words and lyrics and melodies have been woven into the fabric of my life, leaving interesting patterns and imprinting memories both joyful and sorrowful. From the time that I was just a little child, I have heard my parents and grandparents singing songs that seem to stem straight from the heart. Through the looking glass of music, I have seen stories unfold, painful situations change into moments of joy, and hearts uplifted and encouraged. I have witnessed the most dismal of living conditions be transfixed into glorious cathedrals, where exultant shouts of joy and worship to God Almighty echo throughout the rafters. What is it about a song that so enrobes a moment, fixing it firmly in the mind for a lifetime? Alas, I do not know the answer. I only know what I have seen, what I have felt, the way my heart has thumped louder than ever at the sound of orchestras and lilting voices sweet and soothing. How can I put into words the memories so encapsulated with songs and hymns of old? But I will try.

Where shall I start? I suppose that the very best place to start is at the beginning, as the actress Julie Andrews says in The Sound of Music. My family is most definitely a musical family. My uncles play bluegrass music at family get-togethers, and many of my cousins sometimes sing and play music for church services. Growing up, I learned many tunes, some heart-warming, some just plain fun, like "Froggy Went A-Courtin'," "You Are My Sunshine," and "It's Raining Here This Morning." My parents played The Doughnut Man videos for me numerous times. I can still remember the Doughnut Man, little children, and the Doughnut Man's pet talking doughnut, Dunkin, singing, "I am so wonderfully made/You're so wonderfully made/God has made us in a special way/Oh, we're so wonderfully made!" All of these childhood memories are very dear to me.

But my childhood contained a great deal of sorrow, too. When I was eight years old, my younger brother Austin died of two brain tumors--one having the diameter of a baseball, and the other containing the worst kind of cancer that can be had. As he lay dying at Phoenix Children's Hospital, laid out across my parents' and my own lap, surrounded by tearful family members all broken with the reality of a life short-lived, we sang "Jesus love me this I know/For the Bible tells me so/Little ones to Him belong/They are weak but He is strong." I cannot express to you the comfort that that song brought for me, being yet a child and trying to grasp the thought of death and eternity for my dear brother. My Lord knew that my brother's child heart needed comfort in knowing he was loved oh-so-dearly, and that he was going Home to Heaven. My child heart needed comfort, too, and comfort it received from those dear words. I will never forget that day, nor will I forget the song that accompanied it. 

As the days rolled into weeks and the weeks into years, new dreams and adventures began to awaken in my heart. One of the dreams that began to peek its head out of the sunny covering of the future was a trip to Great Britain. It seemed that God had opened up a way for my family and I to go to this faraway land, partly for business, partly for vacation. Our excitement began to mount as we prepared as best we could for what lay ahead. The song "Can't Take It In," from the first Narnia movie, kept playing through my mind: "I've got to make room for this feeling.../It's so much bigger than me.../It couldn't have been any more beautiful/I can't take it in." As it turned out, we ended up staying in England for a much shorter time than we had planned, but I am still happy that it worked out to go. It makes for a great story.

And isn't it a true statement that the memories that music conjures up are memories that make great stories, too? Certainly one of the jobs of music is to cause one to remember people and places and glimpses of beauty in everyday moments. As for me, these melodious memories will serve to swell my heart with joy.

{My family and I made this video for my cousin Chad's birthday, ha!}