Miss you Georgia...

It's been so long since I have been here, and am so happy I stopped in to say hello
Tonight I am making pasta, my kids are in bed, and the TV is off. Ahhh...just me. My wife is out shopping for a birthday present for my little boy who turns 6 tomorrow. Crazy huh?
It makes me so happy to hear your song Pie Jesu...your voice is so true and pure. It reminds me how I feel when peace is around.
You emulate that very word Georgia, Peace.
Hey I have an idea, will you do me a favor tonight and go sing to my kids in their dreams? You are so good with kids...Oh please...will you play and sing with them tonight? The would love to get to know you,...just go introduce yourself, they are open to beautiful angels like you. They play with my dad at night all the time, the tell me about how they went and played on the swings with Papa Glauser at night...so they would fit right in with your antics. I bet you can play some really cool games, huh?
I am sure that they will let me know how it goes, they Always tell me what the did while they were sleeping...so cute!

Well, G. I miss you. Just wanted to drop in and share a bit of my week with ya. much hugs and love.

Brad
(Elder Glauser - YPM Nauvoo 2000)

Thank you, you the best.

Tender Mercy

September 25 is always a bittersweet day for me. Bitter, because I feel again the pain of your absence. Sweet because I reflect on the beauty of your life and the myriad of lessons I've learned from you, such as the reality of life's fragility, the necessity of loving those around you and telling them you love them, the uselessness of getting upset over small things, the fact that experiencing pain only expands our ability to feel love. But we have to choose to let that love back in.

Sometimes I wish more people had known you and your kindness, genuineness, love, joy. I just try to add a little more of those things to my own life, to pass on your legacy of those good things.

On most Sundays, I perform with a big choir downtown for their weekly broadcast. I think it's a Tender Mercy that on yesterday's broadcast they programed the song "May the Good Lord Bless and Keep You", because this is my prayer for you. For us both, really. (don't tell anyone, but I sobbed through the whole performance of it)

"May you walk with sunlight shining
And a blue bird in every tree
May there be silver lining
Back of every cloud you see

Fill your dreams with sweet tomorrows
Never mind what might have been
May the Good Lord bless and keep you
Till we meet again"

I'm so grateful to know we will meet again.
Love you and miss you,
B

Smiley Faces and Exclamation Points! :)

Whenever I look back through old journals, I can immediately recognize an entry that has anything to do with Georgia - it's smothered in smiley faces and exclamation points, and her name is usually in all caps, circled, underlined several times, and so forth. This reflects both how I feel about her, and how she always makes me feel. The recent entries about music camps have triggered so many memories about Georgia. One in particular from Summerfest (the same year Melanie Richards described), reminds me of the :)'s and !!!'s in my journal and one reason for them. Along with our string classes and so forth, we were able to participate in a choir, directed by Ron Staehli. We sang, "Accentuate The Positive." The lyrics are as follows:

You've got to accentuate the positive
Eliminate the negative
Latch on to the affirmative
Don't mess with Mister In-Between

You've got to spread joy up to the maximum
Bring gloom down to the minimum
Have faith or pandemonium
Liable to walk upon the scene

And so forth...

I remember Georgia during all the rehearsals, just singing her heart out, as though she had written the song herself. She exemplified the words of that song! She truly accentuated the positive in everything.

Georgia's Violin

Today Georgia's Violin sang out. Melaine was chosen to play on the Honor's concert at Suzuki Institute this afternoon. She now plays Georgia's violin and there have been split seconds that as she plays I'll get a flash of Georgia standing in her place moving with the violin. With Melaine's hair up in a messy bun, and a black concert dress with a soft blue sash, she played with that same strong spirit Georgia had. I thought of Georgia. What a joy to have her legacy move on through this violin. Georgia is ever aware of us. I am glad that Melaine has such a roll model, because she Rocked today!

Paige

Chickens?

This week is Intermountain Suzuki String Institute in Sandy, UT, an annual event at which Georgia and I and scores of our music-making friends attended when we were young.

This year, as well as last, I had the happy accident of running into Georgia's sister, Paige, at ISSI, and it just so happens that my violin-playing daughter shares a class with Paige's cello-playing son. This class is for beginners: it involves singing, and balancing beanbags on your head, and waving your arms like a birds' wings, and tapping rhythm sticks together.

Today's activity was to cluck and scratch at the ground like chickens while we listened to a piece about such animals from Camille Saint-Saens' Carnival of the Animals. Truth be told, I felt like a ninny, clucking and bobbing my head and pretending to be a hen. But I looked up and saw Paige doing the same thing. What was even more hilarious is that we were both doing it with such conviction, in order to inspire our kids to join in! Come on kids, be a chicken! Being a chicken is fun! Listen to how the music sounds like chickens! Isn't this fun!!! Cluck! Scratch! Bob! Flap! And at that moment, and for some reason I can't explain, I had this image of Georgia in between us, clucking and flapping and playing the part of hen, in all her enthusiasm, and I just laughed. We looked ridiculous, but we were having fun. And I'm sure she would have had fun right along with us!

My Memories of Georgia

I have some fun memories of Georgia. I first met Georgia at BYU Summerfest music camp when we were young teenagers. She was our concertmistress that year, and I was sitting in the viola section. When she first got up to tune the orchestra, she smiled. I recognized that smile as being identical to the one I saw on Kate Marriott's face months earlier at a regional viola conference just before she played Walton Viola Concerto. It was then that I made the connection that they were sisters.

That year at Summerfest we played the 3rd movement of Tchaikovsky's 6th Symphony and Samson and Deliliah by Saint-Saens. Clyn Barrus was our conductor. (Georgia and Clyn are two people that I am looking forward to becoming better acquainted with on the other side of the veil.) It was a very musical, spiritual, and memorable experience to be a part of that group. My mom sat in the audience for the concert. After the performance she said, "You have a very good concertmistress." I replied, "How do you know?" My mom said, "She was the one hitting all of the high notes in tune. I could hear her. She did a great job."

She was an inspiring performer. She did a very skilled performance of Sarasate's Zapateado at the Summerfest masterclass for Igor and Vesna Gruppman which inspired the students who listened. For her ensemble piece, she played the 3rd movement of the Schubert Cello Quintet with Lexye (Lund) Thiele, Natalie Drorbaugh and Ramona (Jacob) McConkie. That was my first time becoming acquainted with that piece. Ever since then, I have simply fallen in love with it. It has become one of my favorites. I love to listen to the entire piece. I remember their performance distinctly. Georgia walked out on stage and she had her hair on both sides twisted and then gathered at the back. That was the first time I'd seen anybody do their hair like that.

On another occasion at Summerfest, we were outside playing games. I was standing by eating refreshments while a girl standing next to me was watching the watermelon relay race. When she noticed that Georgia was getting ahead in the race, she said, "Dang. She plays well AND she can run faster than anybody."

I was so shy back then. I didn't have the guts to join her circle of friends (although I was fortunate enough to play a Beethoven quartet with Lexye that year and have since become good friends with Lexye), but I hope that one day I will be able to meet her again and become her friend.

With Love,
Melanie Richards

An Unexpected Effect

When I gave my daughter the middle name of Georgia, it was primarily to ensure that my dear friend's legacy of love and kindness lived on. I figured that adding her name to our family would facilitate discussions about what it means to be kind, loving, giving, happy, and Christ-like, just as Georgia always was. I hoped that the daughter who carried this name would in some way be able to take on some of these characteristics, that it would be she who benefited from carrying on Georgia's name.

And then this daughter turned two. Don't get me wrong; she's a loving, caring, warm, fun-loving little girl. But when you're two years old, you (and your parents) just go through some growing pains and limit-testing. That's how it works. But even though my brain knows this is "just a stage", sometimes my spirit grows weary of constantly trying to reinforce those limits, not to mention reinforcing them in a loving way.

And so the other day, when I had come to my wits' end, I firmly called my daughter by her full name, to get her attention and to convey the fact that I was not altogether happy with whatever misdeed she had just performed. And the minute Georgia's name left my lips, I felt my heart soften. It was like she was next to me, helping me calm down, reminding me that life is short and precious, and that my supreme goal as a mother is to surround my daughter with love and acceptance. I was reminded that I should strive for those attributes that Georgia so beautifully embodied. Whatever rage had built up inside me, quickly dissipated and was replaced with softness and compassion.

Our days are still filled with limit-testing and occasional time-outs, but I'm grateful that my parenting has been softened, and filled with love thanks to Georgia's beautiful name and all it stands for.

Thanks again, Chach, for remaining such a strong force for good in my life and life of my daughter.

Mr. Bullfrog

"Gl gl," went Mr. Bullfrog;

"Gl gl," went the lady froggy, too.

"Gl gl," went the both of them together,

And their eyes went, "goo goo goo!"

"Mwa mwa mwa mwa!" they started smacking;

"Mwa mwa!" as little froggies do.

Then he said, "Goodbye," and she said, "Oh my!"

Gl gl, mwa mwa, "I'm going too!"

and Georgia would add, blinking her eyes - "Goo goo!"

You Are My Sunshine...

...My Only Sunshine

I've recently found myself singing this song to my girls, and I love that every time I sing it, I can in my mind hear Georgia singing her sweet duet part.

You may be far away, Cha Cha, but you can still make me happy when skies are gray.

You'll never know, dear, how much I love you!