Music and Traditions

 As I look upon different traditions that I have witnessed and been a part of through my life, the main thing that links them together is losing people. Most of the "typical" traditions I have experienced are funerals, but I will only put one or two of the experiences of going to funerals because I don't want to bring the mood down a lot. I also do have some traditions like prom, graduation, a wedding that I have been to and do mean a lot to me. Then there's Christmas, Veteran's Day, Easter, and other holidays. I will say that because I have had a lot of loss in my life, I don't share this music a lot because it means a lot to me and my family.

The first funeral I remember going to was my great-grandmother's funeral. She was 81 when she passed away from a stroke after getting ready to come and visit us. She died on July 26, 2013, and her funeral was had a day before my brother's birthday that year on July 29, 2013. Needless to say, he didn't have a big birthday on his birthday that year. He did get presents, but we had to cancel the party, for obvious reasons. I was 9 years old at the time and my brother was turning 8, so we don't have a lot of memories of the funeral, but we do have memories with her and her recipes, thank goodness. But one song that at least reminds me of her funeral is the song Over the Rainbow from the Wizard of Oz. I know she loved that song and I would sing it around her sometimes as well and it just reminds me of her and the memories I made with her.

The most recent funeral I went to was for my grandfather. He was 64 when he passed away from a sudden heart attack. He died on December 15, 2017, during surgery to stop his heart attack. I was sick that day and stayed home from school and my mom was at home when we got the call and she rushed us to the E.R. saying everything was going to be okay... SPOILER ALERT it wasn't. I didn't want to see him after that so I walked out and the family started planning the viewing and funeral. That was the hardest Christmas I've had. I remember a family friend, who has now also passed, beautifully singing Amazing Grace and it just moved me in such a way that I wish I had a recording of it, but I found a really good recording that moves me almost as much as the live singing moved me.

On a brighter note I want to talk about prom. Prom was something that is very much a western tradition for highschoolers. My school did one prom per year and only juniors and seniors got to go unless underclassmen were invited by upperclassmen. I only got my senior prom. It was awkward, but fun. I even got pictures of me and my friend group in our dresses. I had a lot of fun dancing that night and was and still am upset about missing my junior prom because of COVID. I remember one song in particular that I was dancing to was the Wobble. The dance is hard enough with regular shoes on, but my bright self decided to dance in about 5-inch heels the entire dance. I am proud to say I didn't fall once. 

My last tradition I want to talk about is my graduation. I graduated high school with a lot of ropes, medals, tassels, and stoles. I was very much an overachiever. I believe I had 10 ropes, 2 medals with 3 pins, 4 tassels, and 3 stoles. I graduated on June 2, 2022. They played our schools Alma Mater right before or after we threw our caps if I remember correctly. I still remember my high school Alma Mater because my band director drilled it into us. It meant a lot to me that while they did do the traditional Pomp and Circumstance, they played our Alma Matter and had everyone sing along with it as well. No matter how hard I tried I could not find a recording of my school playing it but I found the words and a score that matches the music almost exactly.

Thanks for reading! Sorry if you cried cause I know I did while I wrote this.