The Lovers, The Dreamers, and Me
My children love for me to sing to them. My daughter, especially. She has even "named" the songs that I sing. Her favorite is "Leaving on a Jet Plane" which she has named the “Taxi” song.
Singing “Leaving on a Jet Plane” AKA the “Taxi” Song to my daughter
Most of the songs I sing to her are old seventies songs. (I know "big surprise"!) Basically, I sing her the songs that I used to sing when I was sitting in front of the speakers to my parent's stereo (the one that included an 8-track). The songs that made Sunday afternoons special.
The Songs of Dreams
The songs that fueled my dreams and allowed me to believe, as all children should,
that I could do anything,
be anything
if I only worked hard enough.
If I cared enough.
If I I dreamed enough.
So I love sharing these with my children.
The Rainbow Connection
Another of her other favorites is "The Rainbow Connection" -- you know the song that Kermit sings at the beginning of "The Muppet Movie". Now I should admit now that I love the Muppets. And that movie meant a lot to me growing up. The story of a rag-tag group trying desperately to get to Hollywood to fulfill their dreams didn't just speak but sing to my heart. And I literally played the grooves off this song on the album, listening over and over. (Thank you Mom for not breaking the record over your knee!)
And like me with the well-worn LP, my daughter wants me to sing it again and again. And like the "Taxi" song, she knows the words. Sometimes, I stop singing just to listen to the words coming from her sweet lips. She doesn't let me stop for long, but when she does, I hear the song anew.
And I am inspired. I am inspired for her but as I listen, I am inspired for me. It is a song about not believing the simple reality around you but believing the magic in your heart. It is a song about not giving up. It is a song about dreams. It is a song about believing in something bigger than you.
Songs to Keep Believing
I want that for my children but I want it for everyone. I want it for me.I have heard the voices and I have heard them too many times to ignore them. I have heard them too many times to forget them, even when I wanted so desperately to do so. I have heard them too many times to believe those who told me that they weren't real.
So I may be a girl figuring out her life, but I still have my dreams and I think at the end of the day, that is the Rainbow Connection.
Thanks, Paul Williams. Thanks, Kermit. And thanks to the late but great Jim Henson. I'm still dreaming thanks to you.
