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| My Mama and Little Me |
Driving home from a wonderful voice-over gig today, I kept myself company by playing a CD that my hubby compiled: a collection of rare and exquisite music by the Sherman Brothers. In case you don't recall, they were the guys who were instrumental (pun intended, I guess) in writing the songs for your childhood. Well, at least if your childhood was like mine, and was filled-to-brimming with Disney. Animated features like "The Jungle Book", "Winnie the Pooh", and "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" provided me the soundtrack to my youth.
And then there's "Mary Poppins", which goes beyond soundtrack to heartbeat.
So, I exited the expressway and at that moment, the track played that had an interview with the Shermans about their favorite song from "Poppins", "Feed the Birds". It was also Walt Disney's favorite song of theirs. And, apparently, it was also the song that "Mary Poppins" book writer P.L. Travers actually enjoyed (she had issues with much of the other music in the film - and the film itself. And let's not even mention those tap dancing penguins, which she eschewed).
Yes, I exited the expressway, the song played, Travers hummed along, I burst into tears. Not just was this song Walt's and Pamela's favorite: it was my Mom's.
I turned onto the main street from the expressway and looked to my right, where I usually see the signage for CSA Insurance (Czechoslovak Society of America, that is), the insurance company my Mom and Grandma did business with. I also looked for the sign for the Czech heritage museum. Both were gone.
Tears from the song mingled with a fresh cascade of "You've gotta be kidding me" tears, as I turned onto the side street to check out what was going on in the structure that used to house both businesses. It was pretty much gutted. Ladders and paint cans and people busily turning the building into Something Other Than.
And then both sets of tears mingled with yet another: the flow of tears that came upon realizing that my Mom will have been gone from me thirteen years tomorrow.
The song. The signage and gutted building. The anniversary of my Mom's death.
Do loved ones who've passed on show up more often at the anniversaries of their passing? My hubby asked me this and, although I'm a professed student of the esoteric, I came up empty. I'm not sure. But it might make sense, especially if they're needing to tell us something.
Mom shows up in threes. Always. And this time, with the addition of the sad news about the insurance company and museum, the museum that was an ode to what I must now refer to as the dying Czech heritage in this area, I really am left scratching my head, trying to figure out what Mom is attempting to tell me.
I had a tough day yesterday, dealing with a cold/flu thingy, as well as upsetting news about schedules and people I needed to rectify. I was at an emotional and physical and spiritual low. Was the trilogy of messages a little nod from my Mom, just telling me she's here for me? I'm not really sure. But it was a one, two, three - boom!
But, like in the photo at the very top of this blog post, maybe Mom's just holding me close and telling me that everything, really everything, is going to be alright.
Love and miss you, Mom. I'll keep listening for more details ...
