Write: Memories of Music

Here is your task/exercise for the week:  Write about a song that reminds you of something in your past OR write about a memory that has music.

Here is my offering:

The clock tower began its hourly serenade.  The bells hidden beneath the face sang out the first notes of Amazing Grace.  The simple melody raised my head as I searched for the source.  The constant stream of thoughts running through my head paused, ceasing the endless chatter to listen to the bells.

Amazing Grace.  How sweet the sound.

It used to be one of my favorite songs to sing.  It would spill from my lips with joy.  In high school, I had to work hard to keep my throat from closing with tears when singing it for choir.  Now, it fills me with melancholy.

It was playing when we walked out of the funeral home.  After settling the arrangements with the director, we paused for a moment and in the silence, the speakers softly offered us the song.  It wasn't the best version, but it sticks with me.  I remember my mother saying it was what her great aunt, her favorite, used to sing to all the children in her lap. 

The clock tower, that same one, was playing it the night my sister died.  As my mom went outside, watching the ambulance pull away, the bells caroled out with grace that filled the night.  Maybe it was a sign that the baby was going to be watched over, that she wouldn't be alone.  It should fill me with happiness, but there is only sadness when I hear the sweet song saying that something lost has been found.