Music, Books and Memories

That's my little Sis and I sitting at the organ in our home on N. Meridian Road. We called it the "White House" because the former owner was named White.

I began my piano lessons on this organ. Then a family loaned us a piano for a couple of years until my mom bought us one. It was a huge, heavy Oak upright that has traveled everywhere I've gone. I'm sitting at my desk, right next to it, as I type this.

The first song I remember learning on the organ was Long, Long Ago and oddly enough, it was in an old song book I acquired recently.

"Tell me the tales that to me were so dear. Long, long ago... long, long ago. Sing me the songs I delighted to hear. Long, long ago, long ago..."

I have been traveling back in time, seeing long forgotten images. Grandma sitting in an old metal lawn chair with my little sis on one knee, and I am sitting in the grass, with my head resting on her other knee. She is reading "I Like Kindergarten". Sis and I loved that book.

I loved any books that were read to me or that I could read. I scoured the bookshelves at our house. My grandparents had an odd assortment of books. A lot of religious books, a copy of The Yearling, Cross Creek, two Dana Girl Mysteries that had belonged to our aunt, and our set of Childcraft Encylopedias. Sis and I had several Golden Books, Dr. Suess books and a small selection received as gifts; Daddy Long Legs, Dear Enemy, and the Bobbsey Twins, to name a few.

As I grew older, books were added to my collection through the school's Scholastic Book Club. I loved that little newsletter with all the colorful book covers and descriptions. I would study it from front to back, carefully making my selection. "Run Wild, Run Free, White Fang, Misty of Chincoteague, Ring of Bright Water, The Incredible Journey, David Copperfield, Anne of Green Gables.

I still have a tremendous love of music and books. I listen more than play these days, but I still spend a great deal of time reading. Books can take you away from yourself, and sometimes they can help you find out who you really are.