Hello! Long time, no blog! I hope this writing finds
you happy and healthy, enjoying our new year, 2015.
As many of you know, my son, Tony Memmel, is a
musician – a Singer/Songwriter – born and raised in Wisconsin, and now working
out of Nashville, Tennessee. He’s married to Lesleigh for (Gosh!) six years
already. The two make a great team, both in marriage as well as in music.
When Tony lived here, in Wisconsin, we got together
fairly often. H*ck, I even wrote a book about his/our story. For any of my
readers that don’t know, the book is entitled, “Five Fingers, Ten Toes – A
Mother’s Story of Raising a Child Born with a Limb Difference.” Here’s the link to Amazon:
During the time that I was writing, Tony and I often met to discuss (often at length) our memories of the events that eventually made up the chapters of the book. It was a wonderful time of collaboration – truly.
Now that Tony and Lesleigh are in high demand,
traveling here, there and just about everywhere, we don’t talk quite as often
as we used to. Now, instead of telling me all about what he’s planning
to do, he more often tells me what he’s/they’ve done. So imagine my
excitement when he recently texted me at 10:00 p.m. to say that they’d just
finished recording a brand new song, and filming its video. Wow! Since I was
unaware they were planning to do any of that, it was so exciting to get the
news. He told me how I could listen to/view it, and of course I did so - immediately.
The song is “Rock and Roll was New” and it was
created for NPR’s Tiny Desk Contest. If you haven’t seen the video yet, watch
it now so that you’ll know what I’m talking about. Here it is:
I love everything about this new song/video. I love,
love, love Tony’s vocals – his voice sounds powerful, clear and is full of range.
I love the images that Lesleigh caught on camera as she filmed – the angles,
the sun, his smile, the passion on his face, his tapping toe, his harmonica and
guitar. I loved the tiny desk they created for the contest – the creativity
that these two display just makes me shake my head. Many people have commented
to me, complimenting that cute tiny desk.
But you know what? His lyrics are the real key. He
puts into word and melody exactly the way his life unfolded. This is a song
that lets the listener into Tony’s real life story - what it was like for him
to become a musician. (Note: I personally wrote about some of these experiences,
from a parental standpoint, in my book. Check out Chapter 37 for the story
about saving for his first guitar – all 100 percent true.)
Who would have ever thought that conversations we
had as a family, deals that we made with our thirteen-year-old son, challenges
we issued – would someday become lyrics to a song…? What a thrill it is for me
to see Tony’s life playing out. He seems to have such a vision – much more
vision than I possess. And he does
not quit. If there’s something that he wants/wants to do, he takes the time to
figure it out, and decide on a plan of action. It’s very cool!
“…started to dream when I was just 13
Saved my money in a jar, so I could buy my first guitar
I plugged it in and felt a spark
Rock ‘n Roll was new and hit me hard…”
Saved my money in a jar, so I could buy my first guitar
I plugged it in and felt a spark
Rock ‘n Roll was new and hit me hard…”
And so – to those dear friend-parents out there who are reading
this, and are smack dab in the thick of raising your kids… Here’s a little
advice for you today. You can use it or toss it – that’s up to you. But for
Todd and me, this worked – really well!
We may never know the impact of something that we do,
or something that we say, to our children. Try to make it worthy.
Guard yourselves from saying your child “won’t be
able” to do something. Either your child will believe you (God forbid) and
think he/she won’t be able to do whatever it is – not even try it, OR, they’ll
prove you wrong and you’ll need to eat your words (which are never very tasty
the second time around).
You don’t need to cave into your kid's every whim –
rather, weigh out what they need and
what they want. Find a way to
determine your child’s commitment to
a project. Instead of being right there with your credit card, challenge them
and meet them half way. Work with
them instead of doing everything for
them. Watch them grow and learn and mature in ways that you may never have
imagined.
Because as for me, I never, ever imagined how proud
I’d be of my kids. (OR that one would write songs about his experiences...)
God’s Blessings, my friends!
