RicelandMeadows

                                                    March 17, 2012

      After dinner one night, my daughter-in-law and granddaughter sat on the couch and sang with the radio. It was sweet music to me. The notes were hanging on the air like a perfume. It was pleasing to my ears and to my heart.

      A child’s voice is soft. A singing child is almost hard to hear… until confidence finally takes over.  Then, even the neighbors can hear! That night it was a soft melody that filled the room and warmed the walls.

      I remember my mother singing to us, Her voice was not the kind that sells albums, but it was sure fun to sing with her in the car or around a campfire. We would belt out “I’ve been working on the railroad” or “Watching the fishes do the hoochie-coochie dance”. 

     It didn’t matter that we would never be on stage. We sang for the sheer fun of it. We sang loud and we sang often. The miles on a trip would pass away as we sang “Found a peanut” or “99 bottles of beer on the wall”. I still let those old songs rip and have taught them to my children… Yes, my young grandchildren are the next to learn those old crazy songs.

      The fun thing about children is goofing off with them. It doesn’t matter if you are singing, reading or picking up acorns. The only thing that matters, is spending time with them.

      So, take a little time to sing, walk, skip or just act a little foolish. You can do it in the name of “playing with the kids’. They will remember those things for a very long time. In fact, long after you are gone, they will still be thinking of you and hanging notes in the air.