lessons in a song...

 The last night I really spoke to my Aunt Lisa is one I will never forget. I walked into the room and could tell it took all she had to even recognize who I was. However, after we carried on for a minute, she seemed to want to talk to me and to me alone. I went into that conversation thinking it would be a series of goodbyes and I love yous, but I am forever grateful that I was wrong. The short conversation wasn’t merely an exchange of words, but rather a singing of a few of our favorite songs. If you know how our relationship was, you would know that aside from the beach, a vital part of that relationship was music. So on that night, September 22, 2014, we sat and sang. 

Being the gentle, quiet spirit she most of the time was, it was sometimes hard for Aunt Lisa to say exactly how she felt or tell you exactly what needed to be told. However, I think that the timid youngster that used to get off the hook by saying, “You tell them, Ellen” learned her own language that she used in the classroom, in her office as a high school counselor and administrator, and in her everyday life among friends and family. That language was music. 

I will never forget the countless summer days that we spent riding back and forth to the ball fields for ball games. Olivia, Kaylyn, a few others, and I would always pile up in Aunt Lisa’s car just because we knew we could play whatever music we wanted in order to get pumped up for the next game. You could bet your bottom dollar that the song we would have on repeat was “All-Star”. It went something like this, “Hey, now, you’re an all star, get ya game on. Go play.” At the time, we took it literally but now, I think she would not only want us to listen to that song and cherish those good times but to also remember to do our best in the big game—life. 

Second, ole dolly…My how we loved Dolly.  Aunt Lisa’s favorite Dolly song was “Hard Candy Christmas”.  The chorus of that song says this, “I’ll be fine and dandy, Lord, it’s like a hard candy Christmas, I’m barely getting through tomorrow, but still I won’t let, sorrow bring me way down.” That song speaks for itself, but I cannot help but think of the constant reminders she gave all of us as the FAMILY counselor.  She would remind us that there is always worse and not to let our temporary sorrow keep us down. Everything in life isn’t hard candy.

A second Dolly song Aunt Lisa loved was “Islands in the Stream”. If you don’t know that one, I apologize, and when you leave here, please listen to it on the way home.  Scott, thank you for showing that no matter what, nothing or no one comes in between true love.  And to Grandma and Granddaddy, thank you for riding the stream with her until it quit flowing. 

When Joseph was little, we always had to listen to “Bouncy Ball”… probably the most annoying song on the face of the Earth. However, through all of that, she unknowingly taught me several important lessons about being a great mother that I will never forget, so thank you, Joseph, for making us sing about that bouncy, blue ball. 

I will end the lessons in a song with what I think is probably a favorite to many, Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing”. This song made it in just about every single car ride at least once, if not more than once. Several times, I believe that she, mama, Olivia and I competed to see just who could hit those high notes the best, and yes, it’s a wonder that the windows didn’t’ burst. I think, again, that the title speaks for itself, and I am thankful that she lived those three words out in her everyday life. She never quit believing in herself, her family, and most importantly through all of her hurt, she never stopped believing in the GREAT I AM. 

Now, for everyone, all of her lessons from songs are wonderful but if there is one thing that I think she would want to stick would be her all time favorite Bible verse, Jeremiah 29:11. “For I know the plans I have for You, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you, not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a new future.” Though God’s plans for Aunt Lisa are now complete and drawn up, He is not done with any of us yet and I know she wants us to follow His plans for our lives. She told me so on that last night, “It’s God’s plan,” she said.