Chapter 2: Music as Therapy

Growing up, one of the few morning rituals I can remember is mom playing Weston Priory on the record player.  The needle would hit the vinyl and the ancient voices would sing us through the melodic meditations.  The music is a time capsule. 

From their website: One of the Psalms says, "Singing makes you happy!" The community of Benedictine monks at Weston Priory finds that not only does "singing make you happy," but singing also can express a whole way of life and, at the same time, can carry the message of that way of life.

In Chapter 2 mom begins her love affair with music:

 As much as I detested and feared P.E. class...I loved music classes, being part of choirs and choruses.  We got a piano when I was in 6th grade and I started taking lessons and joined the church choir...I found I was so much happier singing or playing hymns on the piano; since I didn't have sports in my world or siblings, it became a natural extension of who I was...The music in the choirs and the hymns I played were inspiring.

She goes on to share a painful story of not being selected for the high school "show" group. 

When I talked to the music director the next day she said I had been the one they had to finally eliminate because I might have too many absences: I had no absences that year, a perfect attendance record that I prided myself on in spite of numerous bouts with colds, flu, etc. from a weakened immune system.  No one in those days knew ways to boost a person's immunity.

These are some of mom's first experiences where she feels the sting of discrimination for being facially different.