The memory of sleeping

Dear Daughter,

Your Mum went through a few days of not feeling so good. She has not been taking her supplements and I think that played a big part. We think you got a little burnt on the face so she was kicking herself over this for days. She was second guessing every decision and I was beginning to think about the signs to look out for with new Mums. But I do just think it was the supplements.

The sleeping routine has been going very well. Its so important to have a plan and make sure you adhere to it. Its something you need to talk about and make sure you are both on the same page. Its amazing how many parents do not talk through this stuff.

You are really starting to kick your legs like mad in this rocker. Hi-5 gets you excited and you stop when they stop.

I came across this piece of music- Miserere by Gregorio Allegri. It is so beautiful.

It is from the 1630's and has an interesting story. The Pope at the time had forbidden to allow anyone to transcribe the music and it was only allowed to be performed at particular Church services in the Sistine Chapel. That is until 1770 when the fourteen-year-old Mozart was visiting Rome, when he first heard the piece during the Wednesday service. Later that day, he wrote it down entirely from memory (parts of this score had 10 part harmonies), returning to the Chapel that Friday to make minor corrections. Can you imagine that? Mozart was summoned to Rome by the Pope, only instead of excommunicating the boy the Pope showered praises on him for his feat of musical genius.

Some more songs for you, this time some memory songs. You know when you hear something and it brings back a memory or a place or even a smell? Well here are some of mine -

'Shes out of my life' by Michael Jackson -
I must have been very young, under 7 years old when I heard Mum sing this song in preperation for a funeral. I have the 45 still for this. I remember sitting in the living room watching Mum learn this song.

'A little bit more' by Dr Hook -
Another song from back in the pre-school days. I remember this song because I confused the line - "When your bodies had, enough of me and im laying flat out on the floor" with "When your bodies had, enough of me and the bear, walked out of the door". I remember singing this song enough times for it to have sunk in permanently.

'Soul kind of feeling' by Dynamic Hepnotics
Around the early high school years. It appealed to me for two weird reasons. The clip in which the singer has a weird head and he kept nodding it hypnotically right in the camera, and secondly because of the lines "you might be sitting alone in your room". I remember my response was the white honky version or "right on brutha". I spent so much time alone in my room during my teen years that songs like this were like secret friends who got me. Which leads to the next memory song for the same reasons -

'In my room' by The Beach Boys
This preceeds the other song by a number of years so I guess I was always a bit of a lonely kid. Brian Wilson was in my life even back before I knew who he was. As far back as I can remember I have liked this song. Which leads to the next memory song for the same reasons -

'Sloop John B' by The Beach Boys
It’s the line "I wanna go home, let me go home". I would ache with sympathy listening to this song, again at a very young age. Before Grade 3. Surely this is something to mull over, why at such a young age was I associating with loneliness?