Music and My family

I find that this topic may be a little bit harder for me to talk about. Music was definitely a part of our household, but not in a way that really stands out to me. None of my family was deeply passionate about music and we did not really listen to it instead of watching TV. However, when we were at our beach house we did. We rarely had the TV on and our radio was always playing beach music. Like I mentioned in my musical autobiography, beach music was our way of life while we were at the beach. It filled our souls and we lived by it religiously.

Other ways music was incorporated into our lives was through church. I grew up going to Trinity United Methodist Church. It is definitely not the kind of church that you clap and dance in, but you could always feel the spirit of others while singing, especially if a favorite was being played that Sunday. When I was younger, I loved to sing and wanted to be like my mom and sing with her in the church choir. I sang one Sunday and I was finished. I don't really want to follow with everyone else; I'd rather do my own thing. :)

I guess I find this topic hard to write on because I cannot tell how music changed my life or played a vital role, but I can just think of random times that stick out in my head. I started taking piano lessons when I was in the 2nd grade. I remember practicing in the afternoons while my mom was in the kitchen cooking. She would never miss the chance to inform me that I was playing the wrong note. I can still see her standing in the door way of the kitchen with a dish towel in her hand humming loudly the right note so that I may catch the hint that I had made a mistake. It was so annoying then, but I know she was trying to help me.

I use to have an obsession with Reba McEntire, the country singer. I thought she was awesome. I had all of her tapes and would sing them religiously with my natural southern accent and my sassy 8 year old attitude. There was a little country store just outside of town that had a full body cardboard cutout of her when she use to do the Fritos commercials. I will never forget the excitement I got when my dad convinced the store to let me have it. A few weeks after that, my parents took me to see her in concert and it was amazing! I kept the cardboard cutout my whole life and my mother finally threw it out this past summer as she was turning my bedroom into a guest room right before my wedding in August.

No one in my family was especially musically talented. We could sing some, but only did it to the tunes of the radio. Though we never had a special talent, we do love music. We love to sing and dance. My friends and family are always the first one on the dance floor at a party or wedding reception and also the first ones to sign up for karaoke. It just may not be a pretty sight. I always say that I think I was supposed to be a performer but God forgot to give me a singing voice.