Friday, 07 April 2010 -- Day 138 (151)

Whenever we went riding in the car when I was young, we sang silly songs. We didn't have Walkmans or iPods or cassette players or even a descent radio, so we sang......songs like Ja-Da and Down in the Meadow and Maresy Doats and Dosey Doats. Don't quote me on the titles or the spellings. The only one I am sure of is the first one. They had goofy words like:
"Oh, maresy doats and dosey doats and little lambs edivey a kiddle edivey too, wouldn't you. Maresy doats and dosey doats and little lambs edivey a kiddle edivey too, wouldn't you. If the words sound queer and funny to your ear, a little bit jumbled and jivey. Sing, 'mares eat oats and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy.' Oh, maresy doats and dosey doats and little lambs edivey a kiddle edivey too, wouldn't you." AND
"Down in da meadow in an itty, bitty, poo, fam fee itta fitty and a Mama fitty too. Fim fetta Mama fitty, fim if foo tan, and de fam and de fam all over de dam. Boop, boop, diddum, doddum, wha dum choo. Boop, boop, diddum, doddum, wha dum choo. Boop, boop, diddum, doddum, wha dum choo. And de fam and de fam all over de dam. Top tedda Mam fitty, ooh uh det ost, but da fee itta fitty didn't unna be bossed. Boop, boop, diddum, doddum, wha dum choo. Boop, boop, diddum, doddum, wha dum choo. Boop, boop, diddum, doddum, wha dum choo. And de fam and de fam right over de dam."

Mom taught me these songs so I of course taught them to my girls during our long car rides. We sang them w/ gusto and delight and w/o a clue as to what they meant or if they even made sense. We still do. I was reminded of them today while rehearsing w/ the 5th and 6th grade choirs who are singing Ja-Da in their concert next week. I hope I can make it through b/c it's really hard to see the piano music through tears. Today in rehearsal I had to concentrate on the notes in the accompaniment rather than on the words the kids are singing. If I break that concentration, I know I'll break down. I'm already on emotional overload w/ Mother's Day in two days and Mom's birthday in six so it won't take much to set me off. We're leaving for Aplington tomorrow, and at some point this weekend, we'll go out to the cemetery. My first time since the funeral. I'm praying for strength.