Today I’m grateful for a melody with a memory.

11.23.2022

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I took piano lessons for about 6 years when I was a kid. I’m so thankful for those lessons. I learned how to read music and discovered a creative outlet that I’d continue in one way or another throughout the rest of my life. I will admit, though, that I wasn’t always the best piano practicer. I’d go in spurts of being super motivated and then super unmotivated and my practice time would follow suit. When I’d get frustrated at my lack of progress my very kind piano teacher would tell me that I’d just hit a plateau and that I’d start to climb the mountain again soon. She should have just said, “Hey kid, you’re not going to get better unless you sit your tushy down and practice 30 minutes a day,” but she was far too nice to say that.

One fall day during one of my lengthy piano plateaus, I was fiddling around on the piano trying to read the music and play the song "We Gather Together." My dad heard me and shared with me that he loved that song and always associated it with Thanksgiving. That was all the motivation I needed to sit my tushy down and start practicing. I wanted to be able to play this song for him come Thanksgiving-time that year. I worked hard at it and was very proud to play it for him when Thanksgiving arrived. I remember him being proud of me as well.

"We Gather Together" isn’t a song I hear very often, but whenever I do hear it, I think of my dad and of Thanksgiving.

My mom, dad and I went to church tonight for a Thanksgiving service. It was really nice. There was a beautiful litany of thanksgiving prayers and an inspiring sermon. My favorite part, though, was when the organ began the final song and the familiar melody of "We Gather Together" filled the church. We sang an alternate set of lyrics tonight, but the melody was unmistakably the same. The memory of learning to play that song on the piano many, many years ago flooded back in an instant.

I’m thankful for this sweet memory and the smile it brought to my face. But even more so, I’m thankful to have shared this song together again tonight – proudly singing it with my folks on this beautiful Thanksgiving Eve.