"It is well with my soul"

"Goin' Home" Alex Boye and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
https://youtu.be/AAw78FOkhZs

It has been quite some time since I last wrote on this blog. Mainly because there has not been too much that I wanted to blog about, until today....

The past couple of weeks have been challenging. My daughter has been going through some struggles, and I lost a dear friend, neighbor and mentor to cancer and congestive heart failure. It is my friend, Rachel that I want to blog about today.

Rachel was a special soul. She loved everyone unconditionally. She never said an unkind word and always made you feel like you were "her favorite" when you would visit with her. She never had a lot in the way of worldly possessions, but she was rich in so many other ways. She would always welcome your visit and never made you feel like it was inconvenient for her.

Rachel lost her dear husband about 2 1/2 years ago, they were inseparable. She has missed him greatly over the past few years. On top of losing her husband (the love of her life) she also lost a daughter and a brother in the past two years. It had been a long and difficult few years for her.

Over the past year or so, I would make it a point to check on her or go and visit her on Thursday afternoons (my day off of work). We would talk for an hour or more, and we both came away supported, uplifted and able to carry on with the tasks of living. However, in mid-October, Rachel's health began to deteriorate rather quickly and we knew it was just a matter of time until the inevitable. Rachel had chosen not to seek treatment for her conditions and so we knew it was only a matter of a few weeks until she would pass through the veil to join her loved ones there.  She made it through Christmas and her granddaughter's birthday, and then it felt alright to go "home".

I saw Rachel the evening before she passed away. It was a Monday night. My husband, daughter and I went to visit her at the hospice where she was being cared for. Her oldest son was there with her. She was unconscious and her breathing was labored. Because of the experience I had when my own mother passed away, I knew it was just a matter of hours before she would leave us. She passed away quietly at 1:00 a.m. on Tuesday morning.

When I awoke on Tuesday morning I did not know that she had passed, but when I checked my Facebook feed I had a feeling that she had crossed over. A video clip was posted by Alex Boye of him singing the spiritual "Going Home" along with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir,and I had a feeling. The words to a scripture came into my mind...the same one that brought me great peace and comfort following the death of my mother 15 years ago.

 "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." (John 14: 27) ... and I knew.

I soon had word that she had passed away. Before Rachel got so very ill, but when she knew she was going to die, a few of us sat down with her and pre-planned her funeral. She requested that I and two other friends dress her body in preparation for burial. She also requested that I play the organ at her service, and she requested a special musical number "It Is Well With My Soul" be performed at the service. She wanted my husband to give a talk, along with two other individuals, dear friends. All of her wishes were honored.

Fast forward 10 days... to today. The funeral has passed and we are all beginning to adjust to our life without Rachel in it. It is Thursday, the day that I would have usually made my connection with Rachel. I was feeling a little down, but that is not unusual under the circumstances. In preparation for a church activity tonight I needed to go to the store, Meijer, to pick up a snack to share. While walking through the store I came across a plaque with the words "It is well with my soul" printed on it, and I knew...it was a message from Rachel to me. It was the last one of its kind, on sale, at Meijer (where I used to always see Rachel and Ted), on Thursday. It felt like a Rachel was telling me that all was well. It was very unexpected, but also very welcome.

After my shopping trip I decided to drive over to where Rachel and Ted are buried to check on the graves. On my way home from the cemetery I heard the song "I Will Remember You" by Sarah Mclaughlan on the radio....the song that connects me to my mother. Coincidences you might ask? Perhaps, but I don't think so. I don't believe in coincidences, but I do believe in divine intervention and divine communications, and that is what I believe happened today. The veil can be very thin sometimes, and it would be just like Rachel to want me to know that she was fine and all was well. It was very reassuring because we had had a few discussions since her husband's passing that were filled with some doubt and uncertainty (on her part) about life after death.

I will miss Rachel very much. She was like a second mother to me after my mother passed away, and a substitute grandmother to my children for the past 17 years that we have been neighbors. She was a dear friend, a great support, a mentor and a care giver. We shared many good and bad times together and we helped each other through some of the hardest things mortality can bring. I am so thankful to have known this sweet soul, and I look forward to "goin' home" and seeing her again someday. For now I must be content to know that she is not far away, just out of sight.

Thank you, Rachel for another Thursday visit. I love you, dear friend..."I will remember you".

"It Is Well With My Soul"  - Chris Rice
https://youtu.be/ulfBlMdkT-E

Live Your Life

Beautiful World (Jim Brickman)

http://youtu.be/FHohxz0NhvI

     Spring is finally sprung! Hallelujah! There is just something about emerging from a long, cold, dark and lonely winter that intensifies the senses. It seems like everything is just better, brighter and more beautiful this time of year. The purple, white and yellow crocuses are emerging and showing their colors more brilliantly this Spring, or at least that's how it seems. The smell of the rain (instead of snow) seems more intense and refreshing. The songs of the birds are more joyous and lovely, and welcome. The glow of the sun, on those days when we see it, is brighter and more appreciated than I seem to remember in the past. The sweet taste of fresh strawberries and crunch of asparagus is just better in the Spring. Oh, how I have missed them!

     I had an interesting experience last night as I was listening to the local Public Radio Station on my car radio last night driving home from a meeting. The Pittsburgh Symphony was playing selections from The Nutcracker Suite by Peter I. Tchaikovsky. I love this music, but I usually associate it with Christmas. It was so wonderful to hear it played last night (and they did a magnificent job) that I just had to pause in my car in the garage and listen to the rest of the program! Somehow it was just more beautiful last night than during the Christmas rush. "Visions of  Sugar Plum Fairies dance(d) in my head" as I reminisced about the times I have seen this performed with various ballet companies. Did you know that The Nutcracker Suite was not considered a success when it was first introduced back on December 18, 1892? Now it is an "annual occasion" to attend The Nutcracker! Tchaikovsky's score has become one of his most famous and familiar compositions. Who'd have thought?  I'm sure not Tchaikovsky, who thought he'd failed. I just goes to show, you never know what can happen when you pursue your dreams!

    What a great lesson for me to learn and understand right now. I have been "hearing" over and over again in my head the words "live your life". What exactly does this mean, I wonder? I am beginning to think that it means that I need to live my life embracing the things that I love, regardless of what others around me may think, say or do. (You'd have thought that by this age I would have made this determination already, but it doesn't hurt to have reminders every now and then!)

    I am finding that I want to fill my time, my life and my mind with quality. Quality music, literature, art, and activities. Classical music seems to be much more satisfying for me. As I read good literature my mind is filled with inspiration and I am uplifted. As I view beautiful artwork by the Masters my eyes seem to open to the beauties of the world around me. I don't want to spend my time or resources on things that don't build, uplift and inspire. I want a quality life within the quantity of life I have left to live. Maybe I'm finally "growing up" and have learned to appreciate why the "Classics" are considered "classics", because they are timeless.

    One of the "issues" that I have seen going around on the internet these days is the sad, uneducated and ignorant decision by some lawmakers to eliminate some of "The Arts" education programs in the public schools due to budget restrictions. How very tragic this is and will be for future generations! The Arts is what enriches life and makes a people civilized! To eliminate this is to cut out a portion of our culture that may become extinct. Not everyone is a Math or Science scholar or an athlete. I wasn't, nor ever will be! My interests and skills simply do not lie there, and I think it is not right for a government to "legislate" to it's citizens what is "important" and what is not. It takes away from an individual's right to choose, as well as the opportunity to develop talents and gifts that are God given. What gives the government the right to legislate that? I certainly didn't vote for that when I voted for them! In fact, it makes me just angry enough that I want to go out and buy season tickets to every "Arts" venue available! (If I only had the money - sigh).

     We live in a country that gives us so many opportunities to become our best selves and it is a real tragedy when we don't take advantage of these opportunities. Maybe we are a bit spoiled, and it might take losing some of these opportunities to really appreciate having them. The sad question though is that when they are gone will we ever be able to regain them? All the more reason we must continue to fight for what we believe is right. We must make the effort to pursue the dreams and work to accomplish what we are meant to do in this life, whatever it may be.

    

Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy (P.TCHAIKOVSKY - "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" / Nutcracker - Bolshoi Ballet 2010)

http://youtu.be/Wz_f9B4pPtg

My All-Time Oscar Picks!

The Way We Were (Barbra Streisand)

http://youtu.be/1Yrd6caXygw

     I didn't watch the Academy Awards this year, but I did see some of the movies that were nominated for the awards (loved Les Miserables) There has been so much "Oscar" buzz this past month that I thought it might be fun to make up my own list of favorite movies and post it here. AMC has been showing the winners from past years throughout the month of February, and it has been fun to see some of the old ones again and reminisce. I was surprised at how many I had actually seen! My mother was a bit of a movie musical fan, and she exposed me to many of those during my childhood. I have to admit, this is one of my favorite movie genre and so few are made anymore. Next to that I would have to choose the romantic comedy as a favorite. So, here is my list of  "must see in your lifetime" movies. Check below the "Academy Award Winners" list for my picks of great movies that did not win Academy Awards, but are worth watching anyway. Enjoy, and don't forget to bring the popcorn!

Academy Award Winners include:

1940 - Gone With the Wind - Vivian Leigh and Clark Gable - timeless

1944 - Casablanca - Humphrey Bogart!

1952 - An American in Paris - Gene Kelley - the best dancer ever! 

1957 - Around the World in 80 Days - a grand adventure

1958 - Bridge on the River Kwai - lots of excitement and explosions

1960 - Ben Hur - Charleton Heston! 

1962 - West Side Story - Natalie Wood

1965 - My Fair Lady - Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison - yes! 

1966 - The Sound of Music - Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer!

1967 - A Man for All Seasons - Sir Thomas Moore!

1968 - In the Heat of the Night - Sidney Portier

1969 - Oliver! "You want more!!!"

1974 - The Sting - Yes, Robert Redford and Paul Newman on the same screen!

1977 - Rocky - Gonna Fly Now!

1983 - Gandhi - long, but Ben Kingsley is brilliant as Gandhi.

1984 - Terms of Endearment - bring out an extra box of tissue for this one - sniff, sniff

1990 - Driving Miss Daisy - sweet movie

1991 - Dances with Wolves - Kevin Costner.

2004 - The Lord of the Rings, Return of the King - of course!

My Oscar Picks include:

Funny Girl - Barbra Streisand and Omar Shariff

On Golden Pond - Henry Fonda, Jane Fonda and Katherine Hepburn

Sleepless in Seattle - Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks

You've Got Mail - also Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks

Hello Dolly - with Barbra Streisand 

Mame - Lucille Ball

Singin' In The Rain - Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor and Debbie Reynolds

The Unsinkable Molly Brown - also with Debbie Reynolds

Flower Drum Song

South Pacific

Brigadoon

The King and I

Annie - though I must admit, I like the play better.

Les Miserables - with Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, Russell Crowe, etc.

The Muppet Movie - the Rainbow Connection, Kermit and Miss Piggy, of course! 

The Jazz Singer - for the Neil Diamond Music

Somewhere In Time - Christopher Reeves and Jane Seymour at the Grand Hotel!

Kate and Leopold

Serendipity

Pride and Prejudice

Star Wars - all, of course

Harry Potter Series

White Christmas

Miracle on 34th Street - Dylan McDermott and Elizabeth Perkins - "A baby brother, see ya!"

Fried Green Tomatoes - "Towanda!"

Superman - Christopher Reeves

The Other Side of the Mountain - the Jill Kinmont Story

The Slipper and the Rose - Richard Chamberlain with the cleft in his chin.

The Natural - Robert Redford

The Robe

P.S. I Love You - tissues, please

The Blind Side

The Theme from "Star Wars"

http://youtu.be/Jwu4S996VZI

We Dreamers Have Our Ways....

I Made It Through the Rain (Barry Manilow)
http://youtu.be/wlQPnNy6JR0

     I thought I had "retired" from teaching piano lessons when, surprise, I was approached by two individuals recently who expressed a desire to have me teach their children to play the piano. One of them was the parent of a former student who had decided to take some time off to regroup following a family crisis. The other was a family who is new to the area and upon learning that I have taught, approached me to teach their child to learn to play. I was both pleased and surprised by their requests.

     I have always tried to willingly and openly share my knowledge and talent with others. I began teaching lessons back in 1989, when my first child was about 18 months old. We were fairly new on our path into the world of parenting and living on our own. My husband had taken a job in another state that was far away from where I was born and raised. We were fairly fresh out of college and this was our first "real" salaried job. We tried hard to be able to live on his salary alone, but we were struggling to make ends meet.

    One day I decided I needed to do something to help stretch our budget, but what? I had a two-year diploma in Secretarial Training/Administrative Support, but I had not worked since the birth of our son. We were now living in a different state than where I had worked previously using that degree, and I was unsure where I would be able to find any employment. I was also very concerned about the care and welfare of my son. If I went back to work outside of the home, who would take care of him? I had no family members nearby and few friends. So, I did what I try to always due when faced with these kinds of dilemmas - I prayed and asked God what I should do.

    I remember explaining to Heavenly Father our dilemma. I explained how I desired to help out with the family finances, but that I felt I also needed to be home with our son. I needed something that I could do, I could feel good about and something that was mine. The answer came to me, "teach piano lessons". I had studied piano for many years growing up and felt confident that I had enough skills to be able to teach others how to play. But where to begin?

      I lacked a piano and teaching experience. God took care of these concerns. I happened to have a friend who had children that took piano lessons and she gave me some information and pointers that her children's teacher used with them. Upon asking around in my church community, I came across an individual who had a piano that was in storage and not being used. She was willing to give me the piano in exchange for teaching her to play. The only thing we had to do was go and pick up the piano and move it into our home. And so it began....

    I have been teaching for more than 20 years now and I have learned a lot about how to succeed as a business owner, and how to help my students succeed at learning to play the piano. God has placed people and resources in my path that have helped me all along the way. When I look back over those years of teaching I can't count how many times the little amount of money I brought in teaching piano lessons gave us just enough to have what we needed. It was and is truly a calling from God and a blessing in my life. It is one of my life purposes, though admittedly I sometimes haven't seen it that way.

    When I returned to college a few years ago I decided to put my piano lesson business onto the back burner and limit my teaching. I felt I needed to do that in order to be able to keep up with my classes and the homework demands. While I enjoyed getting my schooling, I missed my teaching. It was a nice change of pace, and maybe the sabbatical that I needed in order to help me appreciate what I had - and the fact that it truly is a calling from God for me.

     I will be forever grateful to my parents who started me playing and supported me financially and physically all throughout my journey. I am also very grateful to the 4 women who taught me how to play the piano, and to do it well. They were terrific mentors and role models for me as I began my own piano teaching business. I am thankful for the woman who gave me the piano that got me started, and for the beautiful piano that once sat in my parent's house and now sits in mine. It is truly a privilege and a gift from God to be able to share my talent and love of music with future generations. My hope is that they too will come to appreciate and use what they are learning to make this world a more beautiful place to live. in my dreams....

“When the music changes, so does the dance.” African Proverb



“It's like an emotional dance party: Some dances will be your favorites -- others more awkward or difficult to learn. Some will be boring or make you mad. Some you will wish you never needed to do again. But AHA! You think. I will dance all the dances I can.”
― SARK, Glad No Matter What: Transforming Loss and Change into Gift and Opportunity



Life's A Dance (John Michael Montgomery)
http://youtu.be/7k4ujBGRGf8

     When I was younger I wanted to be a ballet dancer. My mother loved the ballet and would often get season tickets and take my sister and I to see the performances. I thought there was nothing more beautiful than the lovely sight of dancers in their brilliant costumes moving so gracefully across the stage. I was never given the opportunity in my young life to study ballet. I think it was because I was born with club feet which had to be corrected with the aid of casts to reform my feet and legs. I have since found out that I also have a leg length discrepancy, my right leg is slightly longer than my left leg. I was always pretty clumsy as a child, and I fell frequently while running on the playground at school. I think it had a lot to do with the fact that I had different leg lengths and weak ankles. This fact, however, didn't keep me from trying to learn a little in a college class in my 20's, but by then it was too late to seriously pursue the art. I did, however, develop a greater appreciation for the hard work and physical stamina that it takes to be a good ballet dancer.

     I remember the day when I was forced to give up the dream of being a dancer. I was in attendance at a community talent event. One of the local dance schools was putting on a performance with several of the dances the students had learned. They looked so beautiful in their costumes and they executed the moves very skillfully. As I looked on I was suddenly overcome with the realization that it would never be me doing that, in any shape or form. I sat in the theater and quietly wept, tears streaming down my face. I'm sure that anyone who looked at me would have thought that I was crazy. Only I knew why I felt so emotional. Only I knew the truth and the pain of a dreamed never realized.

       Since that day there have been many dreams come and go. Some have involved my family and friends, and some are just for me. I had hoped that one of my daughters might take up dance and live out the dream of being a dancer that I kept hidden. But, alas, none did. They had other dreams of their own to pursue (and still do). I have had to change my dreams to focus on what I can do, rather than what I cannot do anymore. Adjust to what is more realistic for me at this time of my life. I have started some dreams and never finished them - yet anyway. I have come to realize that some may never be completed in this life. It has not been easy to let some of them go, but it has been necessary. Some broken dreams have made me angry. Other dreams fulfilled have brought me great joy beyond my comprehension.

    Isn't that like life in general? It is part of the mortal experience. The good and the bad; the ups and the downs; the highs and the lows. Life truly is a type of dance, and some of us are better able to dance the steps than others. We all have our own unique style and twists that we bring to the steps, and that's what makes the whole performance turn out beautifully. As we each dance our part we don't always see the overall quality of the performance, because we are so focused on our own sequence of steps. We loose sight of the "big picture" and how it will all turn out when every part is performed. Right now I am experiencing a down time in my life. I like this quote by Iveta Cherneva, “When life gets you down, improvise as if crawling was part of the choreography.” And, some days it feels like I am literally crawling to get through the day. (I may literally be doing so after this impending knee surgery is done, time will tell.) Perhaps crawling is a necessary step, maybe even a vital step, in the overall performance, this I do not know.  But in the end I hope I can dance (or crawl) my steps in such a way that when my final performance is through, I have done my part well enough to warrant a standing ovation.

I Hope You Dance (Lee Ann Womack)

http://youtu.be/RV-Z1YwaOiw

“It's not art for art's sake, it's art for my sake. ” (D.H. Lawrence)



“Beauty is found in anything that delights the senses, nourishes the soul, fires the imagination.”
― Thomas Kinkade

Thomas Kinkade (January 19, 1958 – April 6, 2012) was an American painter of popular realistic, bucolic, and idyllic subjects. He is notable for the mass marketing of his work as printed reproductions and other licensed products via The Thomas Kinkade Company. He characterized himself as "Thomas Kinkade, Painter of Light", a phrase he protected through trademark but one originally attributed to the English master J. M. W. Turner (1775–1851). He also claimed to be "America's most-collected living artist".

"What I paint touches on foundational life values. Home, family, peacefulness. And one of the messages I try to constantly get across is slow it down and enjoy every moment." - Thomas Kinkade

     One of my favorite artists was Thomas Kinkade, who recently passed away from natural causes. He was 54 years old. I have tried to pinpoint what it was about his art that appealed so much to me. As a young girl I tried my hand at painting via a "paint-by-number" set of pictures that looked similar to two Thomas Kinkade paintings (they are proudly displayed above my bed in my bedroom).  My "paint-by-number" pictures turned out pretty well for an amateur, but took A LOT of time and patience. It was easy to "color in the lines" of those pictures and make them turn out well; but, doing one by scratch would have been a whole different story for me. I am in awe of those who possess this talent. Unfortunately, I do not possess this artistic talent. I do, however, possess an appreciation for brilliant artwork. Thomas Kinkade's work falls into that category for me. He was a brilliant and talented artist, in spite of what some of his critic thought. He appealed to the masses, who knew what they liked - and they liked Thomas Kinkade.
 

 "The concept that an artist would be revered by popular culture is an immediate dismissal of his relevance as an artist." - Thomas Kinkade

    We used to have one of his galleries in our small resort town. One of the things that my husband and I did for our 15th wedding anniversary was to take a peek inside of his gallery. Thomas Kinkade described it like this:  "Our galleries are soft (Thomas Kinkade galleries). You don't echo when you walk in. It's comfortable. There's a fireplace burning. There's a person sitting here who's not an art expert. We don't hire art experts. We hire people who love art and love people. And when you walk in, you're greeted, and the experience is entirely different." That was exactly what we found when we entered the doors of the gallery. It was like stepping into another world, set apart from the world, a warm and welcoming "homey" environment. It was such a joy for me to be able to view the various prints and imagine what it would be like for me to actually own one. It is easy to imagine yourself getting lost in one of his paintings because, as he said, "Everyone can identify with a fragrant garden, with the beauty of sunset, with the quiet of nature, with a warm and cozy cottage."

     Art and "The Arts" enrich our lives. This is why we need to be certain that they continue to be an important part of our culture. The Arts are what brings joy and variety to our often dull and uninteresting daily lives. I was blessed to grow up in a home where my mother and father valued The Arts. Growing up we listened to a variety of music in our home, including classical and jazz. As my sister and I got older, my mother took us to the theater, to the ballet, to the symphony and, yes, I even attended an opera (even if I didn't stay through the entire preformance). Mother encouraged me to explore and develop my talents in The Arts. As a result, I learned to play the piano and to sing in choirs. I participated in the Summer Drama Program that was sponsored by the local Recreation Program. I also participated in plays and various other theatrical endeavors throughout my High School experience. I even had the priviledge of writing and directing a play for the same Summer Drama Program after I graduated from High School. As a result of growing up in this environment I have a great appreciation for good music, beautiful artwork, good literature, dance and theater. I love to view a good concert or ballet. I enjoy walking through art galleries and seeing the paintings and sculptures on display there; but  probably my favorite venue is the theater. There is nothing like the live theater to stir the imagination and transport you to another time and place, a snapshot in time. One of the final events that my Mother and I attended  together was a performance of  "The Phantom of the Opera" in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is a memory that I will never forget.  

     Unfortunately, I haven't had the resources to expose my own children to the same things that I was blessed to be able to experience. I have tried, as much as possible, to share with them my love of music and musical theater via recordings, videos and CD's. We have tried exposing them to art and art galleries, but the lack of interest on their part limited us in our desire to push them into attending them. I do, however, have beautiful artwork displayed around my home, in hopes that they will appreciate what "real art" is. I have been able to take my daughters to see a ballet production of "The Nutcracker" and they enjoyed it. All of my children have, at one time, played musical instruments and have an appreciation for the hard work, skills and talent it takes to play an instrument well.

     I am very grateful for the blessing of having the arts in my life. They have enriched my life in many ways by bringing their beauty and inspiration into it. It has truly nourished my soul. I have attempted to share a bit of my appreciation for the arts with you via my blog. I hope you will take a few minutes to click on the link below and enjoy a musical and visual "enriching escape". I hope you enjoy it!


BE SURE TO VIEW THIS IN FULL SCREEN ON YOUR MONITOR FOR FULL IMPACT.
Vincent (Don McLean)
http://youtu.be/tNdYLGAxcWA