1 Mother 2 Another

Maddie’s long been fascinated with music, whether singing it or playing it. She often identifies people at church by where they fit in our worship band – “Joseph plays piano!” “Danny’s daddy (a nursery friend) drums!” – and so on. Some of her favorite times with Brian are the moments he gets out his guitar and lets her “play”, or make up songs with him.

So this weekend while at the mall, when Maddie spied a teeny guitar in a music shop and began jumping up and down, I couldn’t resist. She’s already got a toy drum and percussion set, a piano we allow her to play, and an electronic Elmo guitar toy. But this was the real thing, and girlie wanted it.

Twenty bucks later, we were home and Maddie was straining at the leash. Since I’m not a guitar player and Brian was gone, I had to hide the instrument under a pile of dirty clothes and distract her. I let Brian know about the new toy, and suggested he bring it out the next day while I worked.

When I came home the next night, I saw a girl in the midst of a full-on love affair. She adores resting her guitar (carefully put away in its box) up against Daddy’s guitar. “Tar!” she’ll cry, run over, and pull out the box. Lifting off the lid and gingerly taking the instrument out, she’ll look around for a spot to sit down and create. She often will sit on her pouf pillow to play, like a sixties flower child lounging on the floor and strumming Dylan songs, but sometimes she’ll lay the guitar on the table so she can use both hands to strum.

Sometimes Maddie will take requests song-wise, but most of the time she’ll simply announce what she’s going to sing/play, and dig in. All the chords sound suspiciously alike, but she plows happily ahead with the lyrics and you can’t help but applaud when she’s finished.

The thing sounds awful, of course; the strings don’t stay tight and she doesn’t really understand the “less is more” school of strumming. But she sure loves sitting and making music. And when I see her at her dad’s feet, the two of them strumming their instruments and making up songs, it’s a moment I know I’ll always remember.

So when you see my daughter out on tour in twenty years, remember you saw it here first. If you're lucky, I'll get some video footage soon and give you a sneak peek.