PAGES Summer 2007
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MARP PAGES Summer 2007 |
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Editorial, Summer 2007 issue of PAGES:
"Looking Around Me"
"The hardest years of our lives are those between ten and seventy." Helen Hayes obviously said these words at the same milestone I passed at the end of May. Months earlier I had requested only one gift — could we possibly pull together an evening of music with daughter Bev at the piano and niece Cindy singing soprano as Eric, her husband, played cello? We had booked the very same three 15 years earlier for a similar night and at that time Sam had dubbed the musical trio "The Bishops' Grandkids" — since all three could claim a Mennonite bishop as a grandpa. I was asking for a return performance. They all said "yes."
We asked them simply to sing and play favorites, but could we expect joy for such an event in the midst of the uncertainty and sadness revolving around the short precious life of Baby Javid? We moved ahead to invite friends and family for a Memorial Day musical celebration. After Sam and I welcomed the 120 guests, we settled back to smile and applaud through this enchanted evening.
Cindy sang Bach's "Ave Maria," Bev played a sonata by Mozart, Eric added baritone to Cindy's lyrical soprano as Bev accompanied their dramatic exchange from The Magic Flute. Beethoven's "Seven Variations for Cello and Piano" closed the first half of the program. After a brief interlude niece Becky and her young son Seth sang, "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands." Amy joined Bev in an intricate piano duet by Debussy. Cindy delighted us with a short comic vocal, "Madam and the Minister" admitting as a pastor she found few songs that feature a preacher. Could I have asked for a better gift than the blended voices of Cindy, Bev, Amy and Ana Lisa (daughters-in-law) concluding with "My Life Flows On," "Like a Ship in the Harbor," "A Parting Blessing."
Was I surprised when our grandchildren and other children joined in a "Happy Birthday"? I did manage not to sing along. We headed to the fellowship hall for cake and ice cream — served by sons Tony and David, son-in-law Dale and Emmanuel, our young friend visiting from Phoenix whom we had met in Cairo, Egypt. The music rang in our ears — this was a time of healing. And it surely smoothed the way to "seventy."
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