Soundtrack Saturday

"Music is what feelings sound like." -Unknown

Last summer, we had what is affectionately (or maybe not) remembered as "party weekend." In order to make it easy for all of our out-of-town family, which is everyone, we celebrated Isabel's birthday on Saturday and baptized Alexis on Sunday. (We also celebrated my aunt/godmother's birthday Friday evening and another birthday on Sunday evening.) Inspired by the occasion, I put together a cd of songs that made me think of my girls. (I had actually started a similar cd for Isabel's baptism, but had technical difficulties.) These songs (my husband picked a few as well) make us think of how our girls make us feel, what we want for them, and who we want to be for them. So as a new series here, I am going to post about this list of songs that is so dear to my heart every Saturday. You can also play the song from my sidebar. And after I'm done with this list, I'll move on to another. I love music, although I am no expert, and I just love how there are those perfect songs out there to fit every mood, memory, and occasion. I hope you enjoy!

The first song on the girls' cd is Louis Armstrong's "What A Wonderful World." There is actually much history to this song for my daughter Isabel. We moved to Boston at the beginning of June 04. We busted our rear ends on taking wallpaper down and painting our "new" house (the house is actually very old.) All of a sudden, the 4th of July sneaks up on us and we decided we needed a break and should enjoy the holiday. We were in the home of Paul Revere and the Old North Church, a certain Tea Party, and the Freedom Trail, just to name a few. Surely, they did something to celebrate Independence Day. And boy do they ever. Long story short, we went down to the Charles River to watch their AMAZINGLY SPECTACULAR fireworks show (really, I don't know if anything could top it) and had such a great time.

How does this tie in with the song, you ask? Well, music is synced to the fireworks show and that night they played Mr. Armstrong's song and it brought me to tears (of joy). That's how magical the night was and that was a great "welcoming" memory. We would find out a few months later that I was pregnant with Isabel (we were starting to wonder if she would ever show up, but God's timing is always PERFECT). I listened to this song a lot while I was pregnant. It just matched how I felt. Almost a year later, Isabel was born.

The fall after she was born was a sad one. Tom's grandfather was sick with cancer and was in and out of the hospital. We had visited once while I was pregnant and there just this feeling that he was going to see his first great-grandbaby. The October after Isabel was born, we went back to celebrate Tom's parents anniversary and Isabel got to meet her great-grandfather! He was in the hospital at the time. In his room, he had a stuffed frog that Tom's mom had given her dad. It played "What a Wonderful World" and had been making him smile even when he couldn't talk. He played it over and over. We returned to Texas a few weeks later to attend his funeral and there on the table with pictures and other mementos was the frog.

I hear babies cryin', I watch them grow

They'll learn much more, than I'll ever know

And I think to myself

What a wonderful world