Let me tell you a story. Over the last couple of months I’ve had the opportunity to become involved with a women’s networking group called the Encourage Her Network. Each month, they have a signature event and at the September event, I just happened to sit next to Amber Annette who is a life and business psychic medium. Now, I’m a pretty solid skeptic, but I’d consider myself more of a curious skeptic. I want to believe, but I’ve been burned by reality too many times.
Anyway, we’re talking during the event and she turns to me and says, “Do you like to write?” I immediately said no. I really don’t like writing. Words are not my thing, and it takes me forever to feel comfortable with anything I’ve written. She dug a bit deeper, “Really? Because I keep getting this feeling that you should be writing. About kids, or something like that”. I thought about that for a second and thought maybe she was picking up on my previous work with Heartland Parenting. I said as much, and she thought that I should consider picking it up again. Towards the end of the event, she looks at me again and says that she’s definitely getting a vibe that I should be writing for kids or about kids. Something in that vein.
I thought about it more, because it seemed ridiculous given my absolute loathing of writing. And then it struck me. I have always loved working with kids. I’m a silly person, and I’ve always had this way with them. There’s nothing better than the smile on a child’s face that you put there. Then it hit me…in the back of my head, I’ve always thought about, but brushed off, the idea of writing music for kids. I sing stupid songs to my kids ALL. THE. TIME. If we’re walking up the stairs, I’m singing a walking up the stairs song. If we’re brushing our teeth, I’m singing about it. I’ve never written down any of these but I definitely got that trait from my Mom.
It hadn’t even occurred to me that this could become something. I took it as a challenge and thought about it a lot that evening, and the next morning a theme and tune hit me. I wrote it out Tuesday morning on the treadmill at the gym (the first verse). In the car on the way to work, I sang it into my voice recorder so I wouldn’t lose the melody. That evening, I noodled out a few more verses, and then literally on the way to work the next morning, recorded the whole thing in the car. That afternoon, I played it for Magnus on our way home. He thought it was so funny, he was laughing so hard he couldn’t breathe. He made me play it about 10 times in a row. It was all we listened to the whole way home.
Then we played it for Corvus. He was also amused, and laughed along with his brother. It was a hit, and even if this didn’t become a thing, I knew that the laughter of my children would fill me with a joy that would last a week, if not more.
It’s been over a month since I wrote that first song, and the kids are still singing it constantly. They sing it to themselves as they are going to sleep, in the car, at the dinner table. It’s so fun to watch. I’ve already written another, but haven’t officially recorded it because it requires a strumming technique I’m still working to perfect. I’ll write blogs about both in the coming weeks. So, stay tuned, I’ll be putting out more kids music as the year progresses, and hopefully, I’ll have enough for a full album soon.