We got together with friends for singing practice. The occasion we are celebrating is the wedding of the youngest daughter of one couple, and it felt like a reunion. The six of us have not sung together since high school, and yet it is a source of joy. Between songs we laughed about the physical evidence of aging, though our hearts were as full as ever. 

 

We have kept in touch, with ebbs and flows over the decades, and we each felt our corners rubbed off by life's pounding. Some of our dreams came true, while other wishes changed colors and fell to the ground like the golden foliage outside the window. Our hostess even arranged a few leaves on the mantle, to honor this season of release. Still our combined trust in God has not slackened, even as we let go of what we anticipated. 

 

There is a lullaby from our past that is a braid of three melodies. One begins with Good Night, another with the words Won't You Play the Music so the Cradle Can Rock, and the third describes Five Pennies. It astonished me that the words came tumbling out without a glitch, even though we have not sung it in a very long time. Without thinking too hard, the notes and phrases appeared from wherever they had been in hibernation. 

 

If you are not familiar with the movie in which it plays, the parts are sung by Danny Kaye, Louis Armstrong and a small girl. An unexpected trio, perhaps. Yet it captured the way I felt with these friends, living in different parts of the country for most of our lives, yet woven together too. Not because we are singing the same words, but because they fit together. 

 

As I ease into the reality in which new hips and knees are the topic of conversation, it tickles me to witness those perceptions that have not aged at all.