Random Acts of "Kindness"

Posts tagged ‘music’

SACRED SPACE CONTINUED

Our son has a beautiful car, but it is not designed for snow and ice. He planned to take the car out Saturday — he got as far as the alley behind our house where he hit a patch of ice. Tires spun, no traction. We were still home — my husband was able to HELP — push the car back into the garage. We offered him our car but our son decided not to make the trip.

Because of the frigid temperatures, Robin hasn’t been getting her long walks and her sleeping through the night has been affected. Sadly when I wake up, I have trouble getting back to sleep. Instead of seven hours of sleep I’m getting four or five and it is taking it’s toll. Although I don’t have a cold, my nose is running and I’m coughing a lot. The various sleeping aids I’ve taken haven’t really helped.

We were still home and able to go to Mass on Saturday night. We used to go to church on Sunday morning but they have changed the Mass schedule. The early Mass is too early for my husband to rise, get dressed, take his medicine and get to church on time. We’ve been going on Saturday night. It works well, sort of. When we get home, I still have to make supper. We are eating even later. I’m trying to come up with dishes that will cook while we are gone.

We were at Mass for the first weekend celebration of Lent. In order to highlight the season, it was decided to limit the music to voice only — no piano or organ. The musical director assembled a choir and they sang from the balcony. They had beautiful voices but without music to announce the beginning of a song — the congregation could not participate. They didn’t have a printed song sheet — the music numbers were in the bulletin without the name of the songs. The cantor who had been in front for the beginning of Mass, went up to the loft. I have to admit that I like to sing, and missed joining in. I tried for the second song but that was not the song listed. I’ll admit that I gave up. I didn’t bother trying to join in on melodies we had rehearsed before Mass. It is said, that when you sing, you involve your whole body in the song. My body was definitely left out. I might have stayed calm except they sang a spiritual that I would have enjoyed singing. My dander began to rise. It reminded me of the Masses we used to have when I was still in school — the congregation DID NOT PARTICIPATE in the service. I decided that my concern needed to be shared. I found a friend who could pass my concern on to the pastor. Then I decided to tell him myself. He understood and had a few concerns of his own. He suggested that I talk to the music director. I didn’t think I would be able to do that — BUT I HAVE “FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES”. I saw the music director pass my line of vision and took advantage of the opportunity. Then I found our pastor, and told him I had shared my concern.

And it isn’t even the anniversary of my father’s birthday yet. Even though the temperature is still in the single digits, the roads will be dry. We hope to travel to our daughters on his birthday.

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STILL COUNTING

It dawned on me after I posted COUNTING that I left out a part that was of “help” to me this holiday season. I LOVE to cook — not gourmet — just plain, family style fare. After cooking almost daily for more years than I wish to count, I’m running out of ideas. Of course, the food would also have to be stuff my family would eat. Not as easy as it sounds.

I have more friends in high places this year who also liked to cook. Are they helping to enlighten me? Good question — no answer. Recently I received three recipes that are a hit. One is for chicken in a crockpot. That recipe was on Facebook. A cookie recipe was on the afternoon news. A third for apple pie bites was on a cooking show. All three — from various sources that I don’t always frequent — were a hit with my family. I didn’t plan to get together with a friend before Christmas but suddenly I had a free day and she did too. We stopped in a grocery store where I learned that ham with a $25 purchase for other food was only 79 cents a pound. Ham is a favorite of our family. The sell date was February. I couldn’t pass up the savings. Maybe I should mention that this wasn’t the first time that I have chanced on a deal for ham. Let me say “thank you” just in case I forgot.

Very quiet Christmas morning, walking to Mass behind a family of four. The father whistled a Christmas song as he walked. By now, if you have read many of my rambles, you know I enjoy music. I enjoyed tagging behind the family. Music was abundant at church as well. I attend an early morning Mass. The music director and the cantor where accompanied not only by an organ or piano but also TWO horns, and a violin. This was their first Mass of the day with three more to follow. There were three Masses on the Eve. I didn’t expect the extra accompaniment. The church with the manger and trees with lights was beautiful. On the way home a flock of large birds landed in a neighboring tree. As I wondered who they were, I heard a crow caw. Question answered.

My mother passed over when I was four. I’m confident she has been behind the scenes for all of my years. She was smart and kept her involvement hidden — or I was purposely blocked until my father passed over and let the cat out of the bag. The house we are living in, although in the city, is perfect for us. It was only a mile away from my husband’s job. He didn’t have a long commute every day. It was in an affordable German neighborhood. The neighborhood is no longer affordable — I never dreamed I would be living in a neighborhood that had million dollar houses. It is close to shopping, the lake and I can get downtown via public transportation. It is big enough to shelter my growing family when they come to town. Over a hundred years old, it would not compete with the more expensive houses. Was my mother involved in our search for a house? Many good questions. No answers. And do I really need the question answered?

Still counting my gifts, my family tops the list. I could keep counting my gifts but this ramble is long enough already. It would probably help if I kept a daily list of the many gifts that come my way. That way I might remember but if history repeats itself, I’ll get busy, think I will remember, and forget.

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BROKEN ICE

The title of this thought ramble is courtesy of my friend Catherine. She often told me — “Life is calm, I’m walking peacefully when all of a sudden, without any warning, I’m on an ice field and I fall through.” That was her way of describing a bout of depression. I remembered the phrase recently when, the ice broke, and I fell through. Its not like I didn’t have any warning that it was coming. After all, it was the Fall of the year, leaves were falling, cooler temperature, gray skies. I was a year older. Various body parts were showing their age — not working as well as they used to. The messages coming through were to focus on the present, the past is gone and the future is still to come. And I ignored the messages. After all, I thought I had dealt with the issues from the past and moved on. WRONG! All of a sudden I was remembering my childhood. Searching for happy memories. Since it wasn’t necessarily a white picket fence, happy family — it isn’t a place I enjoy visiting. My father did the best he could and so, I guess, did I.

I was worried that my father would fall into the past when his memory declined because of Alzheimer’s. I was afraid he would remember the fire and the death of my mother and brother. Thankfully he was protected from those dark times.

Searching for a way back to the surface, back to the light, I hit the stop button in my brain. I turned on music to help distract my thinking. I’ve heard that when you are asleep — lost in a nightmare, you can tell your brain to stop — it is only a dream. I tried the same concept — even though I was awake. I refused to go down the same dark path that I have traveled many times before.

I would love to state that I exercised because I know that works to ease stress. I did Tai Chi but not any strenuous exercise. I felt I had no time, too much to do. And if truth be told, I do. I don’t know if I’m moving in slow motion but everything I try to do seems to take longer. Of course, I’m still trying to do many things at once. Instead of enjoying the quiet while I exercised, I turned on the TV. Yo-Yo Ma was the guest speaker, he has a new CD — Playlist on the Borders. I was reminded of the time, many years ago, when he was a gift to me. I planned to go to the Celtic Fest downtown in the city. It was early afternoon — a line of people by the Chicago Symphony caught my eye. It was a free day and I changed my mind and joined the line. It took a long time to enter. Yo-Yo Ma was the featured artist. He delayed the concert until everyone was seated. I enjoyed myself totally and stayed until 10:00 PM.

I often have “help” from the other side. The key is to recognize it.

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