In the summer time, when the weather was fine, (in Southern
California anyway), I could be found sawing away on my cello for two hours
every day. We had three months of summer vacation so my mom had devised lots of
things to keep us out of trouble. But for that discipline, I am very grateful.
Because now, decades down the line, I can still pull out my
trusty cello (which has been my companion since I was about 9) and coax a
reasonable sound from it. I’m rusty and sometimes feel frustrated that some of
the concertos and so on are beyond me now, but to be able to join in with
Sunday worship on this lovely instrument is a joy. So a big thank-you to Mom
for keeping my sister and me practicing. (Note to any parents struggling to
keep their kids practicing music: persevere.)
Bring up a child in the way she should go and she won’t
depart from it, the Bible advises. I don’t think the writer had the cello in
mind, but if the verse fits ...
My sister Judy and I had so much fun, sometimes trying out
duets (with her on the violin) and sometimes trading instruments, which wasn’t
all that lovely to listen to! Remembering dearest Judy today, 31 years after
she went home to Jesus. Still miss her like crazy, maybe even more now...
She was such a Francophile, that it brings a sad smile to my
face to think of her being released from her disease-wracked body, which had
become a virtual prison for her, into the freedom of heaven, on the day the
French celebrate the storming of the Bastille prison and the release of so many
political prisoners languishing inside. God is good, even in the horrible
times.
