Last month, my children had an extended stay with Grandma and Grandpa, while John and I attended the National Association of Catholic Family Life Ministers Convention. Four children, ages 10 – 2 could have felt lonely or insecure without mom and dad for five whole days, but as luck would have it, my parents were able to take the kids to a friend’s beach house for a few days. This happy diversion kept everyone’s mind busy and distracted.
Now it takes a couple hours to drive to this beach house. Before the days of DVD players, my mother had us sing in the car to pass the time and avoid sibling battles. So I shouldn’t have been surprised when my seven-year-old greeted me with a high-energy version of By the Sea. This is what we used to sing when driving “down the shore”.
We became a musical family because of grandma and grandpa. They used to tell us when we were kids to “get up, Sing! Sing!” Now we do that to our kids. In fact you can not get your Christmas present unless you perform something at the family clan gathering. I once heard my 10-year-old niece play Mozart during Christmas and I felt very inadequate. I only sing! Grandma and grandpa were both lawyers.
Now most of us are Music Directors/Worship leaders/choir members at our various parishises.