Saturday, December 19, 2009

...to hear the angels sing.

dear emily,

one of the most rewarding roles of motherhood is rescuing our children.
unfortunately, we can't always...and shouldn't always, but when we
can, it just doesn't get better than that.  here's a special rescue story.

a mom overheard her eight year old son and his friends regretting that
they couldn't sing in the school Christmas program.  apparently, they
didn't sing well enough.  imagine her outrage!

so she marched them to the piano and had them sing  'it came upon a
midnight clear' from the program.  afterward, she sympathized with the
teacher.  they not only could not sing the notes, they could not sing any
note.  she had to start at the very beginning...

every afternoon after school she spent time teaching them to find a note,
by playing it and having them try to sing it.  eventually, they progressed
to linking two notes, three notes, and finally, the entire song.  the boys
especially loved the line, "the world in solemn stillness lay to hear the
angels sing."

after watching the boys do a wonderful job in the school program,
though thrilled for them, the mother was feeling a little glum for not
having been a little appreciated for her hard work.

walking home, hand in hand with her son on that still, snowy night,
she heard him say, "mom, i think i heard them."

"heard who, honey?"

"the angels sing..."

thanks received.

love,
lea

1 comment:

myletterstoemily said...

steve, this is from the book your mom gave me!...which i love so much.