“Song For Mom,” the Story
Daisy’s hazel eyes stared deep into mine, penetrating right into my soul.
Without hesitation she said, “Dear, would you please do something with your music before I’m dead?”
My mom was serious. She was 81. I was 47. For over 25 years, I had been privately writing and recording original songs. She believed it was never too late for me to share them with the world. She gave me the nudge I needed to follow a dream I’d held close to my heart.
I took her up on it.
A quiet piano bar in the Radisson Hotel became my weekly gig for the next ten years. Guests made so many requests for a CD of my music that I released nine of my best recordings as Sneak Preview in 1999. Within a few years, I recorded and produced eight more CDs of my own music and created “Send A Song From The Heart”™ CD Song Cards, a line of greeting cards with compact discs of my songs that sold in gift shops throughout the Midwest. Thanks, Mom.
My mom and I had always been close, but we were brought closer together when our world changed in a flash one summer morning.
Looking out at his favorite spot on earth, the lake surrounded by forest near their home, my dad unexpectedly keeled over from a heart attack. He was 74. My mom just 70. Married for 46 years and working side by side every day until they retired, my mom and dad had a very loving and rare relationship. I looked for what they had most of my adult life. I never found it.
Surrounded by the woods, ten miles from town, my mom was now all alone. I lived 1,400 miles away. I was worried. Within the year, my 11-year-old son Andy and I moved back to live with her so we could help each other adjust to life without my dad. We took long walks, picked up pinecones, talked for hours, read books, baked bread, went to Andy’s ball games, gardened, and healed amid the trees my dad helped plant and loved so much. I wrote. A lot.
Songs poured out of me inspired by life’s challenges, the beauty of the lake, the pines, the sunrises and sunsets. Daisy survived to age 91. I am still surviving and here to tell the stories and share my songs.
My mom learned to be strong at a very young age. She was a survivor. Tragedy struck when her parents died within weeks of each other leaving four children, the oldest 12. Daisy and each of her brothers Tom, Dick, and Harry (no joke) went to live with a different relative. The family life she had known was gone. She was alone. At age 10.
But she endured. Raised by an aunt and uncle, Daisy excelled in school and graduated from high school at age 16. She went on to get a college degree in teaching, then landed a contract in 1934 to teach in a one-room school and keep the fire burning.
Always understanding and non-judgmental, she was so easy to talk to. Kindness radiated out of her trusting eyes. If you were waiting for an oil change and Daisy was in the waiting room with you, she’d know your life story by the time your car was ready. And you felt a lot better when you left. If she had cookies, you’d get one of them, too.
My mom’s love and support inspired me to write a song about her titled “Song For Mom.” With a sweet melody and powerful lyrics, it captures her essence and what I’ve come to believe is the essence of all moms. Over the years, I’ve shared it in a variety of ways. I’ve performed it at every concert, printed the lyrics on greeting cards, and recorded two versions of Song For Mom featured on 2 CDs and CD Song Cards.
Eighteen years since my mom departed, the song lives on. I hope it connects with you when you listen to this digital download. It’s timeless, just like my mom, maybe just like your mom.
