In which Pooh tries to catch up with everything and everyone till he realizes he never will, so he might just as well go get some honey.
What a difference a week makes.. My sister Carrie, the baby of the family, got married this last weekend. It was a fabulous event, filled with all the drama every wedding has...plus some. Carrie married a great guy, who proved his mettle early on by not bolting for a quieter existence after meeting my family. The day was made more perfect as my brother Rick was able to attend. He even managed to play his horn a bit in our brass choir.
( A note of explanation is probably needed here for the non everyday readers of this blog.)
Everyone in my whole family is a professional musician. We ALWAYS play tons of music for our own special family events like weddings and anniversary parties and such ....even funerals. Singing, insrumental solo's, brass choirs, duets, trio's you name it. It may seem weird to you that we would play at each others and our own events, but playing music and sharing the gift of music with each other is a beautiful and intimate thing that we cherish doing. It only seems natural for us to play music together and for each other during all family events.
You can imagine then how emotions would be running if you start with my sister getting married and then add to that my brother being there and then playing a bit here and there when he felt strong enough to pick up the horn and blow a bit. Our whole family was a blubbering mess..It was unbelievably terrific!!
If you were there what you would have seen was my whole family working hard to hang on to it as we went from one song to the next...We are already an emotion family that is not afraid to show it..but we would swing from..."Carrie looks beautiful"..sniff sniff.. to, "she is getting married"..Bawl...to, "Rick is here"..sniff sniff..... to "no, he IS really here isn't he"..BAWL!!!
When it came time for me to sing Ave Maria, I thought I had a handle on it ..and I did, untill the 2nd chorus..Where I was positioned over to the side, most everyone was looking at me as I was singing. What I was looking at was my sister who at that moment was sharing a long look with my brother who was sitting over across on the other side. There they were, sharing a private moment in front of 200 hundred people. Carrie in her dress, beaming this huge happy smile, tears pouring down, looking right at... Rick, sitting 20 feet away, trumpet on his lap, looking right back at her, smiling, tears rolling down his cheeks.
The shared look.. the smiles.. the tears, it was all there. The oldest brother and the baby sister.....the wedding, the stroke.....the love...locked into this perfect moment....I'm singing Aveeeeee Mari.....and then I totally lost it.... complete wheels coming off lost it, quivering voice that quickly turns to quiet sobs right in the middle of Shubert's great refrain, lost it.....
It took me about 40 seconds and a nose blow to regain enough control to start back up again so I could finish.
Oh well, nobody (least of all me) seemed to mind, and I will never forget that incredible moment...ever.
It was a true celebration for my family. It was a wonderful day filled with the rites and passages of life, the music of joined hearts and so much love that even 6 days later sitting here writing and remembering, I am going to have to stop as I did last Saturday, to wait for my voice.
SWEET. I would KILL for a musical family. I was the odd man out being the singer/actor in mine. But living with the Von Trapps would ROCK. You're so cute, Jack.
Posted by: mopsa on June 27, 2003 01:22 PMI must admit, I welled up a bit reading it.
Posted by: bill on June 27, 2003 06:01 PM