Carolyn Thompson Lee 1929-2011 My mother was a guileless person. She could look at people and situations and just see the good. Academics might label her as gullible or clueless, or so shallow she could not see the deeper meanings in things. I prefer to think of her as a pure soul, and to her, everyone else had good in them, too.
People were just drawn to her. She collected friends from everywhere she lived, even random people off the street. She was the only person I knew who could walk into a room of strangers and within a few minutes know each of their names, life stories, and even get invitations to stay at their homes if she was ever in their areas. She was particularly good at parties where she could sit playing the piano and still carry on six conversations at the same time. She really never met any strangers.
People were just drawn to her. She collected friends from everywhere she lived, even random people off the street. She was the only person I knew who could walk into a room of strangers and within a few minutes know each of their names, life stories, and even get invitations to stay at their homes if she was ever in their areas. She was particularly good at parties where she could sit playing the piano and still carry on six conversations at the same time. She really never met any strangers.
While on my recent trip to Germany, I kept wondering how my mother would have reacted to the deeper explanations of the Grimm's Fairy Tales. I can imagine she would have found no use for the ugliness. For a person so filled with light, she would never have embraced such darkness.
I kept thinking that my mother would have sung her way through Germany entertaining everyone around her. And she would have actually remembered the lyrics to the German lied she sang in college (that I didn't). So when people asked her if she knew any German songs, she would have happily proved it. With the force of her sunny personality, she would have dispelled darkness wherever she went. I am absolutely sure that's why people were so drawn to her.
I tried to channel energy from my mother's example to help me enjoy my trip and only take in the beautiful things. That must be why our tour director commented that whenever I opened my mouth, singing came out. That's not so bad, is it?
So when my tour group asked me to entertain them with singing, I could only think of one song. I sang the song my mother often sang in situations like this, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." Here is a recording of her singing it in 1970, for her parents' 50th Wedding Anniversary show. She was 41.
RSS Feed