A Song For Sarah

 Below is a picture of my fourth child Timothy with my second child Sarah on Mother's Day 2016 at Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery.

Sarah doesn't get back to Illinois that often, so we chose to spend Mother's Day that year by paying tribute to our mothers-in-law and grandmothers.

Now Sarah was just six years old when Timothy was born, but she was certainly old enough to know he was more fun than her dolls. She jumped right into being a helper, which included changing diapers and helping out during colic with a pacifier (he wouldn't accept one from me) when he was all "nursed out."

When Timothy started saying "Mama," he applied that to Sarah, too, to Sarah's delight. (I straightened him out).

The two have remained close over the years. So for Mother's Day, he recorded this song for her.

Now before you think I'm getting sentimental, I have a quick story to share.

Timothy likes to sing, and he has a naturally nice singing voice. The rest of us sing like out-of-tune sick frogs, at best.

Sarah and Timothy were sitting in the back seat of the family van singing a new Backstreet Boys song - "I Want it That Way" - when she pointed out his voice.

Timothy could hit the high notes on any song like no other and used to practice hitting them by singing over John Schlitt while listening to old Petra CDs when we threw the newspaper routes in the middle of the night.

One day when Timothy was in his late teens, he launched into Disney's "A Whole New World." And we cracked up because he could sing both parts accurately and well.

Now that he's thirty, he has to strain a small bit to hit those high notes - but he can still hit them. Timothy's rendition of "A Whole New World" has become urban legend in our family.

So he recorded a really sweet version on Mother's Day (the first link) for Sarah.

The second link is a version we caught on a crummy cell phone more than ten years ago on the Sunday before Thanksgiving Day.

He had to work a brunch at Joliet Junior College's Renaissance Center and was late to the family party at my mother's house. No one could believe he could hit those notes.

But the people present had heard the rumors. So - Timothy found the lyrics on his cell phone and proved his stuff.

His oldest brother Christopher recorded it on his cell phone. So if it looks as if Timothy is lip syncing it, well, he's not. Ah, vintage cell phone technology.

Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdU1paRL8Pg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpMbNILhkNQ

10 Surprising Facts About Me

A rare piece of self-indulgence.

For those who'd rather here about my writing updates, a quick summary of this weekend: some reading, some walking, good progress on both The Phoenix and Lycanthropic Summer, and some editing for two clients (first round on a book of short horror stories and third round on a literary novel).

Scant progress on the short story for a special project.

LOTS of great interviews set up for today for Herald-News features stories.

Have a wonderful Monday! :)


10 Surprising Facts About Me


1) I have never colored my hair.

The gray is in there...somewhere. And will eventually overtake all the brown. I'm cool with it.

2) I eat the same thing for breakfast every day.

Banana, cereal (uncooked oatmeal, wheatgerm and reconstituted powdered milk), half a cucumber, water, dark roast coffee

3) My childhood pets were goldfish.

Even if I wasn't allergic to everything else, my grandfather raised goldfish. He had a beautifully landscaped pond in his backyard on Parnell in Chicago (before it was chic to have such things) and built a 90 gallon tank into the floor of his basement.

He griped about the kids who crept into his yard and stole his fish by carrying them away in empty coffee cans ("Don't they realize you need a gallon of water for every inch of fish!" he'd fume) and surprised me on the Christmas when I was nine (the first year I realized Santa Claus truly didn't exist), much to the annoyance of my mother. I named every fish.

4) My favorite activity in the whole world is reading.

The real reason why I write. Writing is work; reading is heavenly. I have to make myself write every. single. day.

But I love great stories. So I keep pushing myself to write one.

5) If you are talking to me on the phone, I am probably walking.

Unless I am interviewing you. If not, I am up and moving. As soon as the phone rings, I am on my feet.

6) I was one of those weird nursing moms who nursed their kids for a long time.

Average weaning age: 4. And lest you think it makes kids "dependent," my six kids are some of the most strong-willed, opinionated, independent group of adults you'll ever meet.

7) I'm allergic to the world.

Real allergies, the stuff that sends people to the ER and and for allergy shots for a long time. Too many to mention all here.

And I have chronic hives, for which I've been prescribed off-label amounts of antihistamines. And asthma. I cover up in the sun or I wind up in welts. I layer up in the cold or I end up in welts.

Molds, trees, grasses, animals, peanuts, sunflower, several antibiotics: the list goes on.

8) I'm alive because I figured out my own rare tumor.

It's called a pheochromocytoma.

I figured it out by tracking symptoms and my blood pressure and glucose levels with home monitoring systems. The endocrine team was impressed at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, although it was pretty scary to have a semi circle of these professionals surround your bed because they're concerned of how sick you are. Especially when you have little kids back home.

This will kill you unless it is discovered and then removed by someone who knows how to handle this tumor, which is a landmine of lethal catecholamines.

Read more about this rare and dangerous tumor here.

9) My husband and I remodeled parts of our property to support a youth group.

Our church had no space for one. So we spent upwards of $30,000 to convert two garages, a wooden shed, and the built another structure to create space for a playroom, work shop, game room, and movie room complete with a state-of-the-art TV (at the time).

We called it The Higher Ark and we ran it from 2005 to 2009 until my husband (who wound up with early onset dementia) was too ill to continue it. He lost his job the following year, and we lost our home (which his parents built) in 2013.

We are now divorced, and he is in a nursing home. But if he was proud of anything in his life, it was The Higher Ark.

10) In 2006, I had a Grammy award-winning singer perform my backyard.

My favorite Christian band is Petra. Its lead singer John Schlitt (all my husband's idea) hung out with the youth group and their families on the feast day of St. John the Baptist that June.

We had a pig roast and John performed karaoke style on our back porch. We have the DVD and newspaper clippings to prove it. The next day, he attended church with us and gave a short performance at our church.

Petra-Destiny LIVE

Petra-We exalt Thee/Somebody's Gonna praise His Name

Petra - I Will Call Upon the Lord/Praying Man

carman & petra - our turn now