Elevator/Grocery Store Music

When did the music of my youth become elevator music?  Lol. I was in our local convenience store, Weigels, the other day and the background music was the popular music of my youth...who'd have thought that would EVER happen?  Popular artists and groups such as The Association, The Beatles, Three Dog Night, the Carpenters, Neil Diamond, Neil Sedaka, the Doors, The Monkeys, the Who, Steppenwolf, Iron Butterfly, The Rolling Stones and Mick Jagger, Carol King, Elvis Presley, Tom Jones, Jackson Five, Donny and Marie Osmond, Ingelbert Humperdink, Petula Clark, Lulu, The Everley Brothers...where did the time go?  

One of the first songs I learned on the piano was Simon and Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Waters. I loved the soulful chording and while I was perfectly aware that the lyrics probably had vastly different meaning than my attribution...the fact was that they were exactly what I wanted them to be as a sixteen year old.  

I lived in Germany throughout my teens with my family.  After two years in Augsburg, where we only had AFN radio, we moved to the Kaiserslautern area and AFN had tv programming for several hours in the afternoon and evening.  We were so excited to have something of "home."  In truth, the programming was limited to programs that the big three (CBS, ABC, NBC) would loan to the Armed Forces Network to air.  It was usually several years behind stateside programming but we didn't care.  During that period musical variety shows (The Carol Burnett Show, Donny and Marie, Laugh-In, Sonny and Cher, Dick Van Dyke Show, The Ed Sullivan Show,  The Red Skelton Show, and Dean Martin) filled the airways.  The jokes, the skits, the music and performers all gave us a glimpse into an American culture that seemed so far away.  Other programs - Star Trek, old I Love Lucy shows, Mission Impossible, Bewitched, My Favorite Martian, Gunsmoke, The Twilight Zone, Bonanza, Gilligan's Island, Wanted: Dead or Alive, Perry Mason, The Mod Squad, Columbo, My Three Sons, the Fugitive, Rawhide, Disney, The Beverly Hillbillies, Batman, Ben Casey, Burke's Law, F Troop, Flipper, Get Smart, Gomer Pyle, McHale's Navy, Green Acres, Hogan's Heroes, I Dream of Jeanie, Mr. Ed, The Addams Family, The Munsters, The Jetsons, The Rat Patrol, Voyage to the Bottom of thenSea, Wagon Train, The Rifleman, The Flintstones, Petticoat Junction, Outer Limits, Lost in Space, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Dragnet, Combat, Mannix, Maverick, and The Flying Nun and Patty Duke Show were all programs that kept us connected to "home"...even if they were aired AFTER they had been cancelled stateside!  Lol. Ironically many of the tunes from tv programs filtered their way into our culture and our memories, reminding us of our better selves and encouraging the values and principles held by us, as Americans.  

You're Having My Baby

This has been painful...Cherstin has been trying to walk me through attaching a YouTube video to my blog!  Lol. I don't know if I'm even doing anything but I'm trying to post...so we'll see....

A few years back I posted about learning that I was pregnant with Wanda.  We were in Hawaii, TDY and then heading on to Australia.  I had been sooooo sick and Rich hadn't been able to do anything right!  Lol. The afternoon that I took the pregnancy test at Tripler Army Medical Center, they refused to give us the results and said we had to go back to the Hickam AFB Medical Center to get them.  I hadn't told Rich what we had even gone to Tripler about, except a medical test, but by the time we got there, had the test and they had refused to give us the results and sent us back to Hickam, it was very nearly closing time and we were very worried that we were going to be too late to get the results.  When we walked in, the medic at the desk congratulated Rich...you can imagine his surprise since he hadn't even been fully aware about what we were even testing for.  Lol.  

That evening Rich suggested that we take a drive around the island.  It was August, the day had been very, very warm but as evening descended and the cool island breezes started to blow things started to cool off.  Rich had rented a VW bug for us to get around during our week there and I consented to the drive.  I was soooo tired and soooo sick that for the first little bit I dozed off and on.  We had driven west out of Honolulu and then proceeded north and up around towards Laeie.  As we traveled south towards Honolulu, night was descending and the city lights could be seen below us and we were listening to the radio when Paul Anka's song, "She's Having My Baby" came on.  Rich grabbed my hand and squeezed it and started singing the lyrics to me.  It was magical...and I never tire of hearing the song and remembering that night when we learned that we were going to be parents for the very first time.  While we have always enjoyed the lyrics and the song with each of our children, it is Wanda that I associate the song with...obviously.  

Paul Anka had written the song as a love song for his wife when she was expecting their fourth child.  He released the song in June 1974 and by August it was climbing the charts and would eventually be number one.  He took a lot of heat for the song from the "femi-nazis".  But to me it was a love song that expressed the joy, the hope, the love and the wonder of marriage, pregnancy, birth, a child, and family in one fell swoop.  I love the song.  I love Rich.  I love Wanda and am so glad she came to us...Happy Birthday!!!  And I love that we have been sealed as a family and that each of our children, our children-in-law, and each of our 30 grandchildren are ours for eternity.

Stake Conference

I wonder how many Stake Conferences I have attended in my life.  When I was a young child...until my 20's probably, Stake Conference was held quarterly and usually with a general authority.  In Germany we usually had a member of the 12.  I remember meeting with Harold B. Lee, Boyd K. Packer, Bruce R. McConkie, Mark E. Peterson, Hugh B. Brown, LeGrande Richards and many others.  And, when dad was bishop the first time, it wasn't unusual to receive a call from a general authority at home.  

Today, Stake Conference is held semi- annually, and general authority attendance is more likely a yearly event, and seldom is it a member of the 12, however, the spirit is just as strong and I am taught just as effectively.  This session of conference is themed, "Hastening the Work."

I ALWAYS enjoy the Saturday evening session more than the Sunday session...don't know why...just do.  And, tonight's session is no exception.  Joe Stanley, one of the young men in our ward, was the first speaker.  Joe joined the church about a year and a half ago due to the influence of one of the young women in our ward.  He is a senior this year and is preparing to go on a mission as soon as he graduates from high school.  Joe's talk was about his conversion and the things he is doing to "hasten the work."  I always enjoy his talks and for a couple of months I subbed in seminary and he's an outstanding student and young man.  He reminded us that the thing that drew him to Becca was that she was happy - all the time!  Lol. Throughout the session his remarks were referenced as to our need to be happy. :)  

Another speaker was Jennifer Hughes.  She runs the Knox Area Mormons Facebook page and she talked about using social media to "hasten the work."  It was enormously entertaining and extraordinarily informative.  There is certainly more I can/should do in this arena...but again...my lack of expertise in the tech realm certainly hinders me! Lol

Another speaker I really enjoyed was President Hurley's wife.  She spoke with the youth in mind but more about the courage we must have to stand for truth and righteousness, owning our own testimonies, and the bullying tactics of those who would like to silence our voices.

The congregational hymns selected were "Behold, a Royal Army" and "Put Your Shoulder to the Wheel."  Again, both reminders that we're the Lord's army and that we have a great work to do to bring our Heavenly Father's children back to Him.  

Someone in the session reference D&C 4.  My mind immediately went to a piece of music that our ward choir in El Centro sang often, including at both Joey and Phil's farewells and homecomings..."The Work and the Glory."  It was written by Gerald Lund's wife as an appendage to his 9 volume series, " The Work and the Glory."  I love the song and I love the series. It evokes strong emotions for me and very tender memories.  It was one of the first songs that Cherstin learned to play on the violin and I remember her using it to audition for mrs. Lange.  The books were largely responsible for our quest to take the trips to church history sites and furthered our knowledge and understanding of the gospel, church history, and to the life changing principles of "the work."  

Music

I was talking to Wanda the other day, about our proposed family newsletter.  In the course of that conversation we meandered through the maze of memories and family history.  She shared the desire to have more memories from Rich and me and something that had been discussed in her Institute class about thematic memories for sharing and passing on those memories.

I have found myself thinking about that conversation over and over and wondering how I might do that considering my limited tech expertise.  I thought about the beautiful job that Kathryn, Mike's mom, has done in creating DVDs with music and photos for their children...that's waaaaaayyyy out of my realm of expertise.  Lol. I have wondered how I can capture the essence of memories of my and our lives and know that it has to be within my realm of capability.  I have finally decided that it would be wonderful if I could learn how to do what I envision...but that may or may not happen...but at least I can write those memories down.  So, I've decided that for a few posts I will be addressing the theme of music.

My earliest memories of music are the lullabies that my mother would sing and hum to me and my brothers.  I have no actual recollection of anything specific but I remember the peace and love and security I felt...even when I was 12 and 13 and she would rock Chad.  It's interesting to me that I'm pretty sure her touch and voice were soothing to Chad...but they were particularly soothing to me.   

However, I remember that Mom used to share that Chad, as he got older, would ask her NOT to sing.  In some way I think she thought it might be a repudiation of the quality of her voice...but I always found her voice beautiful.  She usually sang second soprano or alto in a group, but she always had a clear and lovely toned melody.  I also remember that Mom played with us and sang the nursery rhymes of babyhood...things like "Wee Willie Winkie," "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star," or "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and the childhood songs of "Jumbo Elephant," "Ten Little Indians," or "The Crocodile Song."  The power of her example and the feelings that I had as I watched and participated in her efforts definitely had an influence in my efforts as a young mother and even as a grandmother.

Being the oldest child, my musical exposure as a child was mostly informed by my parents and the things that they listened to, at least until my teens.  My parents had a "stereo" and I grew up listening to the music of "Oklahoma," The King and I," "South Pacific," "State Fair," "Carousel," "My Fair Lady," "Show Boat," and "Singing in the Rain."  In fact, friends across the street, Sherry and Vicki Stephens, would come over to my home and we would "choreograph" dances to the music and put on shows for other neighborhood kids with the front room window being our "screen" to our stage in the living room.  I know...it was probably pretty bizarre...however, these are the same friends that I used to ride my bicycle with...with strips of diapers braided into 40" braids bobby pinned to our hair as we pretended to be riding horses as cowgirls! Lol

My father also loved music...although I don't really ever recall him singing.  However, he was often heard whistling, and he was really, really good at it.  One of his favorite songs to whistle was "Itsy, Bitsy, Teeny, Weeny, Yellow Polka Dot Bikini."  Lol.  I still smile at the memory.

In my early teens I remember Dad coming home and telling Mom he wanted her to write down some lyrics and try to write the tune to a song that he thought could be a great hit.  He then whistled the tune for Mom and we all started to giggle...it was already a very popular tune!  "Downtown" sung by Petula Clark and heard on the radio every hour!