Shortly before going to bed last night, I learned that my older sister, Jay, suffered a stroke the night before and is not expected to recover. She\u2019s currently in hospice. Jay, originally Jeannie, was, as our mother would say, the second one of the first batch. The first batch, of which I\u2019m the third, hailed from South Dakota. The second batch came from Arizona. Janice, the eldest, passed away during Covid but not of Covid.<\/p>\n
I went to bed but not to sleep with the realization that, with my parents gone now, too, I\u2019m losing all the people from my early childhood. I went to bed, but not to sleep. I tossed and turned thinking of all the things we shared as well as the things we didn\u2019t. Many of those memories were music related, because our childhood home really was filled with music. When The Sound of Music came out, it made perfect sense to me because, having all those kids marching around singing together was like going back home.<\/p>\n
We weren\u2019t anything like the Von Trapp Family Singers, but we did sing together–while doing the dishes or yard work and also when it came time for our weekly Saturday morning round of house cleaning.<\/p>\n
In the shoemaker’s shop At his bench there was he<\/em> “Shoes to set my feet a-dancing, dancing<\/em> Bisbee, Arizona, was a company town. Every July, the mines shut down for two weeks and everyone who worked for Phelps Dodge went on vacation. Our father didn\u2019t work for PD, so we stayed home. During Shut Down, Janice and Jeannie often made extra spending money by watering people\u2019s yards. One day they let me tag along, and while they were watering we sang:<\/p>\n There\u2019s a lonely little robin They had me sing the melody while they harmonized around that. It was my first experience in singing three-part harmony and it’s why I ended up in Girls\u2019 Trio in high school.<\/p>\n We sang while we were taking car trips. Sometimes we sang the story songs our mother taught us:<\/p>\n Oh they cut down the old pine tree Some of the songs were just for fun:<\/p>\n There once was a farmer who took a young miss Sweet violets, sweeter than the roses.<\/em> There are two more verses, but I think you get the picture.<\/p>\n And then there were songs which, when sung in harmony, were strictly comfort food:<\/p>\n Soft as the voice of an angel Wait \u2019til the darkness is over,<\/em> Then when the night is upon us,<\/em> Whispering hope, oh how welcome thy voice.<\/em> It was almost four o\u2019clock in the morning when I finally remembered that one, and that\u2019s when I finally fell asleep. Whispering hope indeed!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Shortly before going to bed last night, I learned that my older sister, Jay, suffered a stroke the night before and is not expected to recover. She\u2019s currently in hospice. Jay, originally Jeannie, was, as our mother would say, the second one of the first batch. The first batch, of which I\u2019m the third, hailed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[53,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bisbee","category-family"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3nsBA-QG","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jajance.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jajance.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jajance.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jajance.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jajance.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3266"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/jajance.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3266\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3268,"href":"https:\/\/jajance.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3266\/revisions\/3268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jajance.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jajance.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jajance.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nThis refrain would never stop
\nAs he tapped away
\nWorking all the day<\/em><\/p>\n
\nJust as busy as a bee<\/em>
\nLittle time to lose<\/em>
\nWith the boots and shoes<\/em><\/p>\n
\nDancing, dancing all the day<\/em>
\nShoes to set my feet a-dancing, dancing<\/em>
\nDancing all my cares away.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n
\nIn the tree by my door,
\nAnd he waits for his mate
\nWho returns never more.
\nSo remember, please remember,
\nThat I\u2019m lonely, too.
\nLike the lonely little robin
\nI\u2019m waiting for you.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nAnd they hauled it away to the mill
\nTo make a coffin of pine
\nFor that sweetheart of mine,
\nThey cut down the old pine tree.
\nBut she\u2019s not alone
\nIn her grave tonight
\nTis there my heart will ever be
\nThough we drifted apart
\nStill they cut down my heart
\nWhen they cut down the old pine tree.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nIn back of the barn where he gave her a lecture
\nOn horses and cattle and chickens and eggs
\nAnd told her that she had such beautiful manners
\nThat suited a girl of her charms
\nA girl that he wanted to take in his
\nWashing and ironing and then if she did
\nThey could get married and raise lots of <\/em><\/p>\n
\nCovered all over from head to toe,<\/em>
\nCovered all over with sweet violets.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nBreathing a lesson unheard.
\nHope with her gentle persuasion
\nWhispers her comforting words.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nWait \u2019till the tempest is done<\/em>
\nHope for the sunshine tomorrow<\/em>
\nAfter the showers are gone.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nWhy should our hearts sink away?<\/em>
\nAfter the darkness of midnight,<\/em>
\nWatch for the breaking of day.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nMaking my heart in its sorrow rejoice.<\/em><\/p>\n