03/18/2015
Earlier this week one of my cousins posted a link to a group that her father loved and she commented on how it brought her to tears each time she heard it. Well P, it got me verklempt as well.
I have a similar story of memories and music associated with my mother. She would play the piano and when I was growing up, I always heard the story of one of her aunts saying that you were really a piano player when you could play the “Robin’s Return”. There are oh so many things that made my mother an amazing person with more talent and grace than I could ever hope for, but because there was this age old high bar that she reached, it became in my mind a little anthem of achievable greatness.
After she passed away, I started asking folks who said they played the piano if they had heard of or could play the Robin’s Return. Each time, no one had heard of it. I kept asking and one day a few years ago while I was doing my job of customer service for another company I found myself speaking to a gentleman who stated that he couldn’t perform the instructions for repair that I had sent as he is a concert pianist and couldn’t risk his fingers in the mechanics of something. I then asked the question I had posed countless times and he said why of course he has and proceeded to send me an mp3 recording that he had just made.
I sat at my desk that day and wept. It was the gift I had been waiting for many years to receive and it immediately placed me in a hug from my mother in heaven.
What is equally amazing to me, is that I immediately passed it along to my siblings and some of my aunts as I was sure this was just as an incredible memory for everyone else as it was for me. But alas, it was not. My brothers hardly remembered the song at all. It goes to show that we all grasp onto different moments based upon our own perspective.
So for those of you who have heard the Robin’s return before, below is a reminder. For those of you who have never heard it, let it be your introduction. For those who can play it…. I stand and applaud.
Love Betty
Always a great post, thanks for sharing that special memory. Don’t think you can get out of the pyramids, just because you had a day of fun on the slopes. I soooo envious of you, I miss skiing so much. Plus a hundred other things. Anyhoo, looking forward to skiing with you sometime, and maybe getting muddy next to you in May.
Damn it, Betty, now I’m crying.
Well, not to diminish the touching story Trixie, but you’re not exactly the one to use when setting the gauge on how much it takes to make someone cry.
Oh, come now. I don’t always blubber, but when I do …
You are the most interesting crier in the world!