Music Through Life

Today I am trying to get into the spirit of Christmas.  It is cold and snow is blowing across the landscape.  Any plants that had been protected from our late frosts are now frozen where they stand.  The horses need an extra flake of hay and I watch a fire in my stove.  Still, something is missing.....  I am just not quite in the "mood" to decorate the house. 

It's different now that our children are grown and in their own homes.  Their excitement at seeing this ornament or that one, many they made with me as little projects to keep them busy in Christmases past.  The excitement of writing to Santa and pouring over the old Sears and JCPenney toy catalogs.  I do not go out in the malls shopping and seeing the hustle and bustle of Christmas. Don't get me wrong, been there, done that and it just isn't what I want to do now.   Richard isn't interested and never has been interested in tree decorations.  Getting the tree downstairs is his contribution.  I keep the rest of the boxes in a closet close to the living room.  I have learned they can't be handy enough, because I no sooner get it put away and it is time to get it all out again.

Oh, don't get me wrong, I've been "thinking" about Christmas.  I love shopping for gifts throughout the year, I certainly am exposed to many wonderful artists and beautiful work.  Finding just the right gift is always on my mind.  I also love making gifts and you can't save that until the last minute.

Still not in the mood............  Then I remember what is missing!  Music, we always played Christmas music when decorating the house.  Not necessarily the traditional music, our favorite music came from the Alabama Christmas CD.  Oh, we so loved listening to Alabama when our kids were growing up.  I remember horse camping trips all through the eighties, nothing played in the tape deck but Alabama music!

Then I get to remembering about the music........   now this why I call my blog "Meandering Thoughts"!  When I first remember actually listening to a song on the radio, because we always had a radio on in the house when I was a kid growing up.  That first song was "Cindy oh, Cindy"..........song was by Eddie Fisher.  I thought that was written just for me!  Had to have been in the late 50's.  After that I remember "listening" to music.

In the sixties I remember all the music from that time period.  I remember listening through my little transistor radio, which I got for Christmas!  Oh, that was such a good time for music.  I love Elvis, Beach Boys, The Four Seasons, Bobby Vinton, Beatles, oh, I could go on forever.  I think you never forget the songs from your teens.  Even today some of those lyrics will come to me if I happen to hear a song from then.

In the seventies, we were first married.  For some reason we began to listen to Country/Western music.  Maybe because we were not into the Disco music, to this day I just don't get disco music.  Oh, I loved hearing the music of Charlie Daniels Band, Don Williams, and in the late seventies Alabama came on the scene.  I would love for the old style country music to come back, I feel the country music today is the old rockers that didn't make it in rock are now playing country.  To me is isn't country, there is too much "band" in the music, I want to hear the stories again in the music.  Not just a couple lines repeated over and over with loud background music blaring.  You probably think I am an old fuddy duddy.......  Really, if you could have just heard the Country/western music in the early times!

The eighties were the only time I can't identify a particular sound that we heard then.  This would be the music my children would identify in their memory bank.  I should ask them what was popular then......  I do know that Alabama was still going strong and late eighties Garth Brooks, George Strait, Vince Gill and Clint Black started making a musical impact.  I remember them very clearly and enjoyed their sounds very much.
One of my favorites from that time period is John Berry, he was over shadowed by the others I've named to really make it big.  He is still out there and Richard and I love catching one of his concerts now and again.  He has a beautiful voice and he tells the stories in his songs.  I love that!

So the nineties were all about Country music.  We would sometimes turn the radio onto a Classic Rock station and be exposed to other music.  It is fun hearing different music, we even love Enya, James Taylor, and up and coming artists that are now important in the musical history of it all.

Now I am caught up in a totally different kind of music.  It calls to me in a way no other music has called to me and it comes from the Native American Flute.  It has filled up a part of me that I didn't know was empty.
I am so captured by it that I now play this wonderful wooden instrument.  The people who play this music roll off my tongue as easily as all the artist's I already named.  John Two-Hawks, Jonny Lipford, Mark Holland........  I could go on and on.  Not to mention the flute-makers, the gift they have in creating the most amazing flutes, Gary Reed, Billy Crowbeak, Charles Perdue, Brad Young.........  oh, there are too many to list!  Truly, I love them all. 

And so my thoughts are totally away from Christmas...........   and this is how my life goes, I meander along on a path and then get lost on a totally different path, forgetting that Christmas is less than 15 days away.  Will I be ready?    Of course I will.  Our house will be decorated, the kitchen will smell of fresh baked sweet rolls on Christmas morning and Santa will have magically placed gifts under the tree by the time our three children and their families arrive.  I am so blessed by all the gifts in my life......... music has been part of all that history.