My Mother's Day Tribute to Ruth Miller and Dorothy Lowe Shuff

I know what it is to hurt on these "Hallmark Holidays" when everyone is honoring their Valentine or their Father and knowing that the family that surrounds you couldn't care less about you.  So I feel like I know what many women go through on Mother's Day.  What I have discovered is that when I seek to honor those who have enriched my life and do not focus on any accolades that I feel that I may deserve, it really helps and that keeps my focus in order.

I have been fortunate in that I have had both a Mother and a Grandmother who played very big roles in my life, but there have been others as well.  Ruth Miller was my Sunday School teacher in the 7th, 8th, & 9th grades.  She became a second mother to several of us as we spent time at her house with her family.  She really cared for all of us.  I cannot accurately put into words the impact that her love for us helped us to survive the well-meaning micromanaging done by our parents.  Her influence on me and my Mother actually helped strengthened  the relationship between my Mom and me.

Dorothy Lowe Shuff was my Mom's oldest sister and never had kids of her own, so she focused her love on her nieces and nephews, as well as her school kids (She taught Elementary School).  She and her first husband, Charles Thomas Lowe were my role models growing up.  Those that had the privilege to know both them and me can point out the little things that I do that were picked up from being around them.  It was their marriage that became the role model for what I wanted my marriage to be.

I mess these ladies as well as my grandmothers very much and would love to able to tell them as well as my own Mom -  Happy Mother's Day.

Music and me

Mom:  "Joe, was Dennis happy or sad when he got home"
Dad:  "I don't know, I was sleeping.  Why do you want to know?"
Mom:  "He is in his room singing and he only sings when he is either on top of the world or in the dumps."
Dad:  "Is he singing happy or sad songs?"
Mom:  "He sings the same 3 songs either way."

That was a conversation that I heard my parents having one night when I was a working teenager.

I have said in the past that for a song to be really good enduring song, it must have one of the following 2 characteristics.  It must either have soul touching lyrics or a good beat to dance to.  A truly great song has both.  I believe that soul touching lyrics is what separates a really good song from a novelty song.  Soul touching lyrics are those lyrics that deals with issues of the heart.  Novelty songs are about trite issues.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzzdPfQ-tK8&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PLBEBBC1D021710CF4


Idonwannabe by Kelly McGuire  is an example of a song with soul touching lyrics.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtzoUu7w-YM


The Streak by Ray Stevens is an example of a song about a trite issue, although it is a fun song that has a beat that you can dance to.
I do not believe that there is anything around that can express the soul like music.  Whether it is a "Song Sung Blue" or if it expresses a happiness that inspires you to "Go Tell It On The Mountain", music can lift and express the soul better than anything else.

You see, even in the darkest times of my life music has always played a very important part of expressing and comforting my soul.