TheBanyanTree: Reading

[Sally Larwood]

That song brings tears to my eyes, Julie, so I can understand its effect on you when it recalls such happy times when your boys were little.

I was telling Alison the other day the song I used to sing to her when she was a tiny baby.  It was during the time when one of Australia's tv legends, Graham Kennedy did an afternoon stint on my favourite radio station and would play, every day, the John Denver (?) song, Wonderful Baby (living on love).  It is one of those special memories. Sitting up in bed, in hospital, singing that to my beautiful new baby.   I think that happy memory is even more precious because the day after I'd had her Chris had been retrenched from his job.  Not good timing.
Sal

Sent from my iPad

On 25/10/2011, at 12:32 AM, Julie Anna Teague <jateague at indiana.edu> wrote:

> 
>> Sometimes you wonder about a lot of the
>> things you did both for and to your kids.  It works out in the end.
> 
> I loved reading to my kids, and we had much the same rule.  If they got their bath and brushed their teeth and got to bed in time, we'd have more time for reading, and they were always good about getting the things done. We all loved it when we got into the chapter books.  Seth loved animals and one of his favorites was "Doctor Dootlittle".  He loved that book and always wanted more than one chapter.  Andy loved the outdoor survival pluck of the boy in "My Side of the Mountain", one of his all-time favorite books as a child.  Funny that today he's a junior at Indiana University, studying Outdoor Recreation and Resource Management, and is about to embark on a semester of rugged outdoor training in mountaineering, Wilderness First Responder certification, climbing, whitewater certification, fire fighting, etc.  Sometimes you get a glimpse back a the characteristics of the child who formed the man, and I love that.  It's as if something is coming to fruition in my son that was always there inside him.
> 
> After reading, though, both of my sons always had to have a song or two.  Always.  It was a ritual they never let me out of.  We had a lot of regulars, but one of their favorite, most soothing songs was a James Taylor song "Close Your Eyes."  I can still sing this song word for word, and the last line nearly chokes me up every time I sing it.  Some moments with my boys feel poignant to the point of heartbreak.  I wonder if they still know the words and if they will sing it to their own children some day?
> 
> Well, the sun is slowly sinking down,
> and the moon is surely rising.
> This old world must still be spinning round,
> and I still love you!
> So close your eyes.
> You can close your eyes it's alright.
> I don't know no love songs.
> I can't sing the blues anymore,
> but I can sing this song,
> and you can sing this song when I'm gone.
> 
> Well, it won't be long before another day,
> and we're gonna have a good time.
> No one's gonna take that time away,
> and you can stay as long as you like.
> So close your eyes.
> You can close your eyes it's alright.
> I don't know no love songs.
> I can't sing the blues anymore,
> but I can sing this song,
> and you can sing this song when I'm gone.
> 
> 
> Julie
> 
> ~O
> <I~ love to run
> />
> 
> 
>