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All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope.” - Winston Churchill
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“I can’t believe I sign at ‘Parent/Guardian Signature’ - Lili is 5-years old and I am still not use to it.” It is Christmas day and Tyler is taking his daughter skiing for the first time.
I laugh a parent’s knowing laugh, “Tyler, I can’t believe I don’t sign at “Parent/Guardian Signature” for you.”
“Parent/Guardian Signature” expresses great things – duty, mercy, hope (and love) in a single word (well, three).
Time marches on - it is fleeing from me and catching up with Tyler. A baton is passed, Tyler now signs as “Parent/Guardian.” We have made another of life’s great transitions.
“Will the Circle Be Unbroken” is country music’s great hymn to transitions. Originally a hymn, A.P. Carter reworked the song into a funeral hymn.
Growing-up in the 1970s, I often heard this song at my grandmother’s house in the drowning summer humidity of Vicksburg, Mississippi. Family and friends would form a circle and put a foot on a kitchen chair so they could rest their instruments on their thigh. My mother played mandolin, my Uncle Bill played guitar.
The original hymn referred to a prayer circle or family gathering. Everyone met to pray, eat, talk, or play music. The song was an admonishment to family members to live a good life so they will meet in heaven and the circle will be unbroken.
I think A.P.’s version refers to the circle of life. As family members pass, children and grandchildren carry on the traditions, values, and spirit of the loved one.
I am no longer required to provide a signature acknowledging I am a “Parent/Guardian” - I just have to be one. That is a great thing.
How about you? What was your transistion? What song do you turn to? Share a story!
