Music in the Family

I've assigned myself the task of going through a three-foot high stack of music today, and only twelve pieces down, I'm crying like a baby. Oh, the dreams, the hopes--the work--that went into each one of the pieces, like the violin books from Fio's six-month study which came to an end when she became pregnant with younger son; like the violin books from when younger son was a child and saw a little boy on TV and said he wanted a violin. He got it, of course, and was quite good, just like his father had been when had played the violin for about six years when he himself was a child.
     Son stayed with the violin for a couple of years, but when his teacher moved across town, he quit.
    His father had quit when he hit junior high and switched to the French horn to attract girls.
    Meanwhile older son, who, as a toddler, had refused to leave church until the last organ chord played, was in a city-wide children's choir, took piano, and learned to play the trombone. Baby Daughter also studied piano, then took dance lessons. She had professional potential on the flute, but her true love was voice--singing. Of course, she'd heard me singing all her life because, while I was getting a degree in another field, I also took voice lessons and signed up for music composition classes.
     I think that Husband, at the time, was learning guitar and toying around with the harmonica, banjo, and ukulele. 
     Daughter went professional with a couple of bands and got some nice reviews, but, as far as I know, she's more of a listener now. Older son plays the piano some at home and the bass guitar at church, while younger son is game for karaoke any day of the week. I was sort of keeping up piano, and composing a little, but that went out the window when Husband died and I had to dedicate all my time to the aftermath.  I'm moving out of the house soon, so it's is important that I winnow out the books and sheet music, but all I can do is cry.


     ADDENDUM:
Fio knows she hasn't gotten everything right time-wise in this blog, and she's probably forgotten things she should have mentioned--like that all three of her children qualified for the city-wide music contest--so you may see corrections if you check this blog later in the week.