This is our tree. Diana's dog Sugar has been sleeping on the tree skirt this year. Not sure why. Ours isn't a professional looking tree, as you can see. Every single ornament has a memory attached. I love opening up each box and remembering a family member, or pet, or arts and crafts created many years ago. The angel on top was made by a close friend of mine. I think we've had it for more than 15 years. I love the way our tree looks each year. Filled with all those memories, it almost becomes like one of the family.
The youth choir sang on Sunday. Sharaya and Allison came to our church to watch Beth sing. The two of them, plus Chuck and I are sitting in our seats as the choir begins to enter down the center isle. They are hustling. I mean, they are walking so fast, they're almost running. I began to panic. I leaned over to Chuck, "Beth can't move that fast!" I could feel the tears welling up as I realized she will probably be left behind. Then Sharaya leans over to me, "Is Beth gonna be able to move that fast?"
Then we see the ensemble come in on the platform from the back. They're walking a little slower than the choir and in the back is Beth. She was movin' I'll tell ya! For her it was pretty fast, but she was keeping up. The girl in front of her made sure she got up the stairs okay, then showed her where to stand.
That's when I lost it. I really felt Beth had found her place. She was keeping up. She finally belonged. And she loved it! And I loved it. And I cried. I was so proud of her. And proud of Melody, the girl who was now her friend.
You know that feeling when your child accomplishes something, no matter how small; that feeling that wells up inside your gut and you can feel it coming to a climax in your heart? Yea, that feeling never changes. It doesn't matter if your child is 7 or 27, you will always be overwhelmed at their achievements.
Beth is on the far right, bottom row.
Youth choir on the right.
Kids choir on the left.
6 comments:
Tears here too! Makes me feel like I'm ready to get in the spirit, so thanks for leading me there! (swamped with work, now done, now blog . . . one coming soon).
Beth, we are all so proud of you finding your place. I wish I could hear you all sing. What a great joy and wonder to have your voice an integral part of that choir.
That is so awesome! And I just want to say that my family is far from perfect, but it wasn't TOO hard to find ONE good thing each person did this year. OK, some of them were a little hard...
Sandy
This makes me tear up. I am having a rough time with things lately and your words were what I needed to read. Thanks for the post. Oh, and your tree is beautiful. trees decorated with love are the best!
So awesome!!!
My mom just gave me a box of our hand painted family ornaments dated 1971, the year I was born. I remember each one of them from my childhood. We put them on a little tree for my 6 yr old!
oh, it is so very wonderful when they "find a place". Way to go Beth!!
So great to read, loved this! And you guys have a beautiful tree!!!
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