We sing

We sing, it's what we do. It's in our marrow. At some point, it became the center of who we are, not just who we were. Some of us were never great singers, and still aren't, but it's not about the talent. We are scattered to the winds yet, we are still as close as yesterday. We inherited a superior musical heritage and we have guarded it and represented it well. Those who came before us made sure we knew what a precious gift they were passing to us and then they melted us into their family. We have forgotten nothing. We have shared common values because we were raised together. Have two years passed? Ten, thirty? No one could tell. We are blessed to be a family that was forged in years of harmony, fruit slinging, bus tripping, sight seeing, contesting, musical-ing, ugly dress wearing, small town rearing, praying and yes, singing. We were trained to.sing together, think together, breathe together, blend together and take musical beatings together. We learned to dress appropriately, enunciate, make round vowels and not lock our knees on the risers. We will never forget to praise the LORD and not the LARD. We were not ever, for a second, allowed to act a fool. We saw one another in curlers, without makeup and in swimsuits and half shirts. We learned to start and stop together. We know each other's insides. We know each others hearts. We know each other's character. We know each other. After  a while a beautiful, sacred thing happened. It is unbreakable. It is timeless. It is indescribable. It's untouchable.

Every now and then we gather and sing. In a large groups or in small groups. Because we must. Because life comes at us hard. Because it's how we deal with anxiety and stress. Because there are things to celebrate. Because we are sad. Because there is a hole in the calendar and we don't want to waste it. Sometimes we must gather at a point between here and there and pull out the hymnal and sing. Because that's how we were trained. We will sing in a hotel room, a banquet hall, a church, a restaurant, a museum, or a car. We will sing for our supper.We sing, in unfamiliar places and unfamiliar songs. We will not, however, sing in robes. We have limits.

 We were taught old school ways. To read music. To sight read. Musically...whatever it is...however old we are at the time...however much time has passed...we have been prepared, as a wise man recently reminded us, "for such a time as this." We gather and sing at weddings. We gather and sing at major life events. We gather when one of us loses a parent and we sing.  We love our parents. Because we shared them. Because they invested in us.

We recently lost one of our own so we grieve collectively as one. We hold her parents and children. We hug them and reminisce with them. We mourn deeply for them. They feel like our own parents. Could be our children. We love them fiercely.  This was our sister. We hold one another and we cry together. We pray with and for one another. The loss of one of us is a loss we can almost not bear. It's a hole in the harmony. It's a missing part. It's unresolved. It's hard. It hurts. We don't understand. So we sing