Three Things, Listed On a Napkin, That Brought Me Happiness Yesterday:
1) My father sending me clips of Italian opera, sung by opera legends like Anna Netrebko and Maria Callas.
It’s true…I actually have an iPod list of songs my father has sent to me over the years. Extracted from memory – songs shared growing up, or linked in emails – this is what it would look like if my father and I had a soundtrack, showing years of wisdom imparted from him to me:
- “Dream a Little Dream” – Edith Piaf
- “Take Me to the River” – The Commitments
- “Long Tall Sally” – Little Richard
- “The Perfect Country Western Song” – David Allen Coe
- “Black Coffee” – Lacy J. Dalton
- “Someone Like You” – Van Morrison
- “Crazy Blue Eyes” – Lacy J. Dalton
- “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” – Otis Redding
- “Frankie” – Connie Francis
- “O soave fanciulla” – Maria Callas, Giuseppe Di Stefano & Rolando Panerai
- “Zigeunerweisen” – Pablo De Sarasate (Played by Anne-Sophie Mutter)
- “Irish Heartbeat” — Billy Connelly
- “Blue Christmas” – Elvis Presley
- “Sweet Dreams of You” – Patsy Cline
- “All of Me” – Michael Buble (I have to admit…this is something I shared with him…and I think he loved it) 😉
- “One Fine Day” – The Shirelles
One of his favorites…the piece he returns to over and over…is Maria Callas as Musetta in La Boheme…in particular…”Quando me’n vo’” (Glad to hear that a continuous sprinkling of coughs echoed the opera halls, even back in 1958.) 😉
Maria Callas’ voice is definitely adored by my father, but coming in at a close second is Anna Netrebko’s. Her voice just sounds so much more buttery to me…what do you think?
If you notice, many of the songs listed above have to do with love: love lost, love remembered, searching for love…with the occasional “gosh, it’s just nice to be alive, isn’t it?” song to keep you hopeful. Let’s just say, I have run to my father on many occasion with a broken heart…and this is how he helps me…through music.
I won’t share the stories that go with each song shared…those are for him and me!…but it brings me so much joy to have this connection with him. Every time a new email comes in from him with an attachment, I know I’m in for a treat. 🙂
2) When my kitty, Millie, does adorable things.
This is Millie:
I am focused.
At times, Millie does adorable human things with her paws. As I was eating dinner the other night, Millie trotted up to my chair…streeeeeeeeetched up as far as she could to reach my arm…and pulled it down with her little, white, fuzzy paw so I would pet her on her head.
Brilliant, Millie. You git what you want.
3) À la carte menus.
Call me crazy, but I love going to restaurants that do not pre-select what food would best go together in my belly. À la carte menus allow me to predicate: “You know what? I want my dinner to be JUST the sides tonight. I want to dine on the delicious sautéed Brussels sprouts with pistachios, the savory kale salad AND the portabellas frites. Can we make that happen? Excellent.”
Tasty Mind Morsels 