Memories – a few of my favorite things.

Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels
Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings
These are a few of my favorite things

When the dog bites
When the bee stings
When I’m feeling sad
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don’t feel so bad

Ah, my favorite things….Why is it that fall often launches us straight into extended episodes of nostalgia?? The crisper days, the scent of smoke in the air (well, not so much here in California!!), the shorter days and longer evenings, backpacks full of notepaper and freshly sharpened pencils, pumpkins guarding the grocery store entrance. They all send me backwards in time, back to simpler things, favorite things.  

From her alpine meadow, Maria rehearses her eclectic list and reminds us that remembering favorite things somehow has the capacity to lift our spirits; and by some inexplicable bit of magic we no longer “feel so bad”. I remember the year Julie Andrews brought the conflicted Maria to the big screen. I was the too-young accompanist of the Jr High choir. I can still see the old piano in the school gym (who can forget that smell!) and hear the slightly awkward but earnest singers attempting to set all those now famous words into three part harmonies. Just hearing the words “raindrops on roses” sends me immediately back to those somehow safer, less complicated days.

We’ve been enjoying “Wild Geese Are Flying” in Village Class this fall. The melancholy lullaby in a minor key soothes the babies and gives us the opportunity to create a warm, quiet space in our class. The song reminds us that change is just around the corner.  “Winter is coming, winter is coming!” and it’s bringing all those treasured memories of winters past. If only for the moment, the grim possibilities of one too many snowfalls and cabin fever “don’t feel so bad.” (Again, this doesn’t necessarily apply to those of us in SoCal, but we do our darndest to happily welcome something that looks marginally different than summer!) 

One of the most pleasurable tasks of parenting is the intentional facilitating of memories that will live in our children’s hearts and minds for the rest of their lives. By the time we send them out the door to put their own stamp on the world, hopefully they will have accumulated a backpack full of never to be forgotten memories.

Every week Kindermusik provides opportunities to create wonderful memories with our little ones.  Whether in class with our friends, or creating special “at home” moments with the rest of the family, Kindermusik is a great memory facilitator! While we can’t ensure our children will reach adulthood with only pleasurable memories, we can give them enough sweet ones to make the “bee stings” of life seem not quite so bad.

-posted by Miss Colleen, who leaves you with a favorite quote, “Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose.”  From the television show The Wonder Years