My dad 7 his tater bug

I grew up with music.  It daily filled my house, my church, my school - and my heart!  When I was younger, my dad had friends who frequently came over on weekends - simply for the purpose of playing music!  He played a little mandolin that he called his "tater bug".  It had a rounded back and in it's "face" was a hand-carved money slot that we figured had been put there by someone who had serenaded for tips.  

Dad taught me a few chords on his "tater bug" and I was captured!  How fascinating to find a way to "talk" - through strings that resonated and echoed something deep from the inside of me!  

When I was 10, we got our first piano and I latched onto it like it was my best friend.  I gradually learned to keep up with "the guys" on one of three instruments - piano, mandolin or guitar.  I even tried my hand at the bass and 5-string banjo when there was one in the house.  I looked forward to those nights when the magic of music exploded out of each of us!  For endless hours we happily strummed and sang in sync with tapping toes and ear to ear grins!  It seemed there were no other cares in the world during those hours!

At church on Sundays it was more common than not to hear my mom on the organ or me on the piano while we belted out hymns or stood up in front and sang an old gospel quartet.  

Music was the highlight of school as well, starting with basic singing classes and eventually blossomed into my learning to play a hand-me-down trumpet.  I began a band class and became part of both vocal and instrumental ensembles and choirs of all kinds until I graduated.  Music even took me to college where I got a degree in none else than Music Education.  It was on my radio and multiple music devises as we moved from the phonograph to tapes, to 8-track players, to CD's!  

I have been a music director and worship leader in church settings for most of the past 30 years of my life, and now my children are all involved in various ways with music.  I am thankful for the joy it has brought me and believe that through all the fun and practice of music, I have most loved utilizing it for the purpose of communicating my gratitude for the things God has done in my life.  How valuable it has been as a means of expressing the thanksgiving, praise and prayers of my heart!  

I'm sure dad could have never realized how drastically my life would be influenced by that one little "tater bug"!