Again with the violin.
Tonight the Youngest Sister impressed us all at dinner by spouting off from memory the notes of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" (the foundation of Suzuki violin teaching method). On demand, we got the song, in the key of "A" from a kindergartener.
We were eating chili and crackers, a simple meal all at once morphed into a magical mystery tour for me as I realized that the lifelong love of music is being birthed in her as it was in me. Unsolicited, she sang over supper and I was stirred to remember the hours and dollars my parents invested in me to study piano, clarinet, tuba, and voice, a gift now being resuscitated, perhaps Easter-like, as I find enduring value in things asthetic.
In this I am learning perhaps as much - or more - than the Youngest Sister. I sense the ponderous nature of parental nurture and the often-elusive sense of what matters most. But more importantly, I find now, despite my deceased mother's shortcomings, a treasure imparted to me subtly through her valuing music in my life, a treasure stolen from the dysfunctional demons who pillaged our family and buried deep within me that is now marked by an obscure "X" in my heart that these children of mine seem to see easily.
Jesus said that a man who discovered a treasure of great value in a field would sell everything to purchase that field to possess the treasure. The secret to this story about the kingdom of heaven seems not to lie so much in understanding the value of a treasure on sight, but in plowing the right fields with diligence to unearth the things of worth, believing that despite the presenting circumstances there is treasure to be found everywhere in life.
I believe I have found the field of greatest worth, and it is my family. Logically, I say that surely the treasure lies within us and can be passed on to those who will follow our well-placed footsteps. Now it is upon me to leave a good map and well marked trail.
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