What April Has Taught Me...

• Being a "Mother Hen" at an amusement park has its pros and its cons. It's great that my students know that I love/care/desire to protect them, but sheeeesh, people! HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF A LINE BEFORE?!? Seriously. The people who swarmed the amusement park the day we paid it a visit were extremely pushy towards my young students. It was slightly ridiculous. So ridiculous, in fact, that I stood in line with my arms fully extended so as to barricade entry past the point at which I was standing, allowing only my students to stand directly in front of me. If any of the others in "line" even DARED to slip by my arms, fury escaped my being. 
• Clean amusement parks are fun! Dirty, crowded, and barely managed amusement parks are not so much. 
• The life of Jesus is not complex. He lived, he loved, he served, he spoke truth... my students are not too young to learn of his great example. Nor are they too young to learn of his sacrifice. 
• Sunrise Services at the Garden Tomb on Easter Sunday are, indeed, wonderful. Also wonderful is the 9:30 am service that immediately follows the 6:30 am service. Helloooo, snooze button! Will remember this nugget of truth next time. Although, it was pleasant to feel like the only ones driving to Jerusalem at 5:15 am. 
• Thunderstorms DO occur here in the Holy Land, and that really makes me smile. I love thunderstorms. The smell, the sounds.... aaah, music to my ears. Grab me a nice book, a cup of something hot, and I'm set for the evening! Perfect way to fall asleep, if I do say so myself...
• Ovens here can be extremely temperamental. As we speak, I am baking a cake on the lowest temperature setting... and it's 500 degrees Fahrenheit. Jigga, say whaaaat?!? Just yesterday, it was a cool 300 degrees. Hmmm... curiouser, and curiouser.  
• Plane tickets are a LOT better when you HAVE them and are not searching high and low for the best rate. That's right, ladies and gentlemen, I am now OFFICIALLY bound for the States in Mid-June. June 15th, to be exact. Woo-hoooo!!!

Floating Melodies & the Thoughts That Follow

Violins have a way of bringing me to a distant place...
Their beautiful cascading notes carry me to memories of my early childhood.

Memories filled with my sister and I prancing around my brother, Dustin, as he spent hours practicing and perfecting his skill that filled our home with soul-touching music. I remember bursting forth from other rooms in our house so as to join him and dance many, many gleeful circles around him. Joyfully giggling at my ability to enjoy fully his playing.

Memories of my mom and him playing duets during the evening-- she, on the piano, and him, on his trusted violin as I fell asleep in my bedroom. Or, on that rare occasion, me on the piano, and him, on the violin.

I remember Dustin calling me to the living room so we could play Scarborough Fair together... filling our sunken living room with music as water does the ocean.

We played that song over and over until it was perfected. Us both rising and falling in volume to complement the other. We brought harmonious music into our home that day, and I was pleased with my playing... glad that it met his expectations. And mine. I don't think I expressed my gladness as I had wanted to... because any six or seven year old would rather play outside than be asked to sit in their living room and play during the high-noon sun during the fun-filled summer months. But, nevertheless, I was pleased he had wanted me to join in song.

I remember Dustin encouraging me in my playing. As a child of 8, I played Bach's Toccato in D Minor from memory, and was very hard on myself if I ever made an error. Perfection was my goal, but I lacked the passion that filled my brother's heart when he played. I wanted that passion, but could not find its source.

He would ebb and flow with the music.. much like reeds blow and dance in the wind. Eyes closed, he would dance with the notes that escaped that S-shaped box. Horse-hair bow in hand, it became an extension of his arm... the violin was a part of him, much like I wanted the piano to be a part of me.

I remember watching and listening in wonder as he played, very proud of my older brother. Proud that he found a way to shine, and proud that the time and effort he poured into that instrument were not seen as a chore. Instead, they were a song and dance for his innermost being. Words were not easily formed from his mouth, but every emotion he felt seeped from that violin... no translator required.

He played and played.. through Junior High to College.

He played from his bedroom to the Concert Stage. He was always playing. At family reunions, church events, my Grandfather's funeral, always playing. If he did not have a violin in his hand, he was mimicking the movements with his fingers on arm. Always working with his vibrato technique, always seeking ways to improve.

Riding in his car, I very rarely heard the latest pop or rock song. Instead, I heard Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, and Chopin. Classical music was very much a part of his life, and I grew to appreciate it... following his example.

Just like every Friday you could find my family at the local High School rooting for him on the playing field during the weekly football game, we could be seen at every Orchestra concert.

I can still imagine my sister and I fighting to remain silent during those long, long concerts. Yes, we were proud and excited to support our brother... but wow, two hours of silence in a large, dark room with many crevices just shouting at us to be explored... was difficult. How we longed to go crawling under the many rows filled with people! They would never see us, we thought! We would be secret agents in disguise or explorers charting out new territory! But, to no avail, we remained seated... Never going to where our imaginations dared.

Those are some of the many memories that follow violin playing for me.

I am carried to those memories of delight and joy, even though my brother is no longer with me in body... In memory, he is very much alive.

His playing still fills my heart, ever floating on the violin melodies I hear today. Those present melodies take me to those special places within my mind's eye.