Favorite Childhood Memories

I was blessed with an amazing childhood. This is one of the ways.

I wouldn't call my parents particularly musical, but somehow all three of us kids ended up playing at least one musical instrument by our teenage years. I think our love of music, and need to create it, is because of the kitchen sink. All of us, at some point, had to help Dad wash the dishes, and on most of these occasions we were singing. With dish rag in hand and water dripping from our elbows we would sing or listen to music on the old blue boom box as the sun set through the kitchen window. On Sunday nights, we would listen to Thistle and Shamrock, the Celtic music program on NPR, keeping time on the back of the plates. On other nights, we'd listen to Peter, Paul and Mary, singing along with the worn tape. At some point I noticed that Mary was singing something different, so I followed her voice and learned how to sing harmony.

Sometimes when the TV isn't on and Dad is washing dishes, he sings or whistles the same songs.