My husband and I were blessed with two sons who grew up to be
two of the finest young men you could hope to meet. Their years at home seemed
to race by. We woke up one day to find that we were starting to attend the
weddings of their friends and the children of our friends.
Those are pretty poignant moments, when you stand in church
and realize that your "babies" have blossomed into adults and could be starting
families of their own, soon. At many weddings, these sentiments find their
expression in father/daughter moments, frequently danced to songs like, "Daddy's
Little Girl" or "Sunrise, Sunset." Usually, there's not a dry eye in the house
after that. And rightly so.
But I started to think. What will this day mean to me when
it's my turn to watch one of my sons begin a new life? I have important things
I'd like to say to them at that time. What music is out there that can express
wedding day wishes from mothers to sons? I'm only ever going to be the mother of
the groom. I can accept my "mother of the groom" role in the wedding process to
"…wear beige and keep your mouth shut." But as they stand at the threshold of
this new beginning, there are some things I want them to know. And I wasn't
finding it in music.
Then it dawned on me to "commission" my own wedding song from
the most talented musician and composer I knew, my mother, Rita Heatherington.
What could be more meaningful, person and eternal? All of the things I'd like to
say, expressed in a song written by their grandmother, especially for them. As
the CD cover says, truly "gifts for your wedding day."
When I first brought up the idea to my mother, there were no
serious girlfriends on the horizon at that time. So she was a little startled
and asked, "Do we need this now?" And I told her no, that was just the point. I
didn't want a hurry-up job! I wanted a finely crafted masterpiece that said it
all. We should start now, so that we would be ready when (an if!) we did need
it.
The gift of family love for their wedding day was further
enriched by asking my cousin, Alice, to record the song for us. It was important
to me that this piece live not just on paper, but that there be a record of
Rita's vision of this song.
The results are on the CD for all to hear. I continue to be
amazed by the creative talents of the people who are closest to me. I used to
baby-sit Alice. Now,
she is an opera singer bringing me to tears singing a song for my son.
And my mother. My mother. In her spare time, when she was not
being Mom, raising four children alone for many years, she was, and is, an
extraordinary talent.
I have joked that I will have to be medicated when the time
comes for me to actually listen to this at my sons' wedding. I am only partly
joking. This song says it all. "My joy and my pride, my son!" If neither
of my boys ever get married, the sentiment remains the same. My joy and my
pride.
As of this writing (9-9-01), we haven't needed the song yet.
But you are free to use it for your son, when you are looking for gifts for his
wedding.
