Monday, March 21, 2011

A heartfelt thanks...

I owe a truly heartfelt thank you to someone. In general, I don't think people say thank you nearly as often as they should. I'm not speaking about the small everyday things - like when someone holds a door open for you or picks something up that you dropped. You should say thank you automatically at those instances. I'm talking about the BIG thank yous. Like;
Thank you for inspiring me to...
Thank you for your help/support...
Thank you for being there...
Thank you for opening the door to a really great opportunity...
Thank you for changing my life...

When I was a girl, I spent a lot of time with my uncle's family. His wife is an ex music teacher and a true lover of music. At every opportunity, she listened to music. Sometimes it was the piano she was playing herself. Sometimes it was an album of her current favorite singer, or the latest Broadway musical or movie soundtrack. Occasionally it was even classical music or gospel music. Musicals were her favorite but she liked almost anything.

A couple things happened this weekend. One, since we got the stereo working we're listening to a lot more music and Bill had a CD of Franz Liszt on. I even turned it up! Later he said, "honey, I have to tell you, I really am impressed that you have such a diverse taste in music." The other thing is, Mom and I went to see Marvin Hamlisch at the new concert hall in town. During his performance I thought, "my Aunt would love this." It was like a show she would have taken us to many years ago. Like Paul Anka or Liberace. He even commented about how wonderful it was to see a young girl (12 yr old) in the front row. How great of her parents to take her and expose her to the great American songbook.

That's when I realized that my diverse taste and love for music stems from that period in my childhood that was surrounded by music of many genres ~ thanks to my Aunt. Thanks to her, I didn't grow up to be a single minded music lover. Even in high school, listening to Aerosmith, Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, I was still SO excited to get tickets to Neil Diamond. Even during the disco era, there were times when I was by myself, that I would tune the radio into the classical station. Thanks to her, I truly enjoy going to the symphony. Thanks to her I love almost every musical I've ever seen! Thanks to her, I can honestly say that I have a true appreciation for (most) music.

I bet she doesn't know that she did that for me. That music has, on occasion, touched my soul because she exposed our young thirsty minds to more than Sesame Street. I'm going to write her and say thank you.

The soundtrack to my life is filled with such variety.

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