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My Father, the Balladeer
I spent all day today at the Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival selling tamales to support the High School soccer team. Our booth was in a parking lot turned food court which also contained a stage. Mid-morning, a cowboy band began their set, and I heard the familiar chords and lyrics of the cowboy's lament, "The Streets of Laredo." The song brought me immediately back to my childhood. . . a childhood where my father was always singing cowboy songs and Mexican corridos. As he puttered around the house or rocked his children to sleep, he sang The Streets of Laredo, The Yellow Rose of Texas and, my favorite, The Red River Valley.
One of my favorite stories involved him and his compadres going out drinking while my mother stayed home because she was pregnant. Apparently, they felt guilty and so went home and serenaded her in the wee small hours of the night!
At my father's funeral, my brother asked the vocalists to sing "Red River Valley." There wasn't a dry eye in the house as they sang, "Come and sit by my side, if you love me. Do not hasten to bid me adieu. Just remember the Red River Valley. And the cowboy who loved you so true."
Dad, I will always remember you.
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27 comments:
This is a great journaling prompt and of course you have turned it into something so beautiful and reflective and meaningful - I love it!
What a beautiful and heartfelt post. Your love for your Dad shines through in every word.
What Amy said - looking forward to seeing your other pieces in this series
Oh Rinda, this is so beautiful :) It made me laugh (early hours serenading?!) and brought tears to my eyes too x
This is a wonderful tribute to your Dad and what a meaningful thing to have a particular date on which to remember and celebrate his life. Lovely memories.
I have a huge lump in my throat & a tear in my eye! But how wonderful is the power of song to take you right back to a precise point in time with a particular person....as alive as ever they were in the happiest of times! I shall be humming that tune all day!! :D
What a beautiful memory and so poignantly recorded.
Aw Rinda you made me cry! I remember how important it was to Petey to have them play that song. All 3 of my girls have grown up hearing Petey sing it and Cristina at the age of 3 even knows all the words. I miss your dad too!You always post great things! We miss and love you guys!
your father sounds like such a special person and by remembering him here you are sharing him with all of us. sweet memories are one of the best parts about life. it sounds like you get to experience that often.
Oh what a lovely piece to honour your father. We celebrated the day of the dead for several years - a time to remember those we've lost.
What a beautiful piece. That song is one we learned in school the year my father died, so as it runs through my head I can think of your father and mine too. I like that idea very much.
Maria Linda, I have a very fond memory of your dad singing to his three little ones the summer of 1962 when I visited your family. I was 13 and visiting for part of the summer and I truly enjoyed the time there after I got over being homesick. He was quite the singer.
Cousin Rose
What a beautiful post,Rinda....and what lovely memories of your dad.
I wonder what your mum thought of the serenading.
That was so beautiful. It's hard to lose fathers because they care so much for us.
Oh ~ what a wonderful and loving post ~ Your Dad sounds like he was a very special man ~ he is 'watching over you' ~ sending you lots of hugs ~ CArol (A Creative Harbor)
thanks for coming by and commenting ^_^
Like everyone before me, the first words that come to mind after reading this, is "what a beautiful tribute." I started humming Red River Valley as I read the post.
What sweet memories, Rinda!
I love this meme. Thank you for sharing your art and a piece of your Dad with us.
Your dad was such a good guy! Thank you for sharing such heart warming memories!
We so love the Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival, no longer ours for the day as we are far away, but we used to live in Los Gatos and drive up for the kids when they were just wee, if fact for the kid, as we only had one but with 3 of us mom dad and he we were all big kids at pumpkin fest and tree cutting at Christmas (many memories from this part of the work lie sleeping) and for the chance to take photo after photo of beautiful orange fields! Prayer to your father and thank you for kindly our memories too
This is a sweet memory. Isn't it incredible how music can transport you to another time.
How sweet it is to have these memories of your dad. I grew up with those ballads too-loved that Marty Robbins album.
Your post brought tears to my eyes and a wrenching feeling in my heart-all good, but there, nonetheless.
The collage and your story of your father are so full of heart... I can hear the Red River Valley being sung, and I can just imagine that group of friends serenading your mother... those are wonderful memories. Thank you for sharing them with us. And for taking down that box also, and sifting through all the memories that touch us so...
what a great memory ... my grandpa always used to sing to me in Spanish ... some of my strongest memories are of him singing to us and to himself...
Mariana
This is a great story of remembrance about your dad, thank you for sharing! Have a great week Rinda!
dear maria,
thank you so much for joining the art of remembering and sharing the songs of your father. i have been out of town for two days and am just now able to visit, so sorry for the late visit.
i love your father love, the tender rippling out of a daughter's love for her beloved father.
you have filled me with a longing for the voice of my father, song of my heart.
What a wonderful recollection, thank you for sharing it x
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