Rodgers & Hammerstein for Dad

Being far away from a loved one when they’re doing badly isn’t much fun. I know I’ve said that you can pray for them and prayer is going to bring you close, but I was struggling for a way to do it.

Then I started working on some Rodgers & Hammerstein.

I sang for Dad and for the other people at the health center at Monte Vista Grove last time I visited, and it felt right. So I wanted to add some more songs to my repertoire for my next trip out. I pulled out an old copy of The Best of Rodgers & Hammerstein and flipped through the pages, remembering fingering out those tunes on the piano while Dad said, “That’s a great one, skeesix” and humming along. Off key, mind you.

“The Surrey with the Fringe on Top” from Oklahoma would be good. “Hello Young Lovers” from The King and I and that tune Dad always liked “No Other Love” from a lesser known show Pipe Dream. (“Sounds just like Victory at Sea,” he proclaimed.) I copied down the lyrics and for the last month I’ve been singing to myself, learning the words, whether it’s the “chicks and ducks and geese” that better scurry or those young lovers “whoever you are.” I sing as I walk to work and when I get dressed in the morning and when I’m washing the dishes at night and I think of Dad. 

“I’ll hold a good thought for you,” was Dad’s way of telling anyone that he’d keep them in his prayers. I’m holding good songs for him and they keep me close to him when he’s far away.

 I’m flying out to California this weekend to see him and his compatriots. I’ll sing my song. If I’m lucky Dad will hum along. Off-key.