Singing New Songs

I went to see my Grandma yesterday. She enjoys spending time in her "happy places" - those bits of her memory where she feels secure and able to talk freely - so a lot of our conversation covers her childhood and her family and friends as she was growing up. However, there was a moment yesterday where she seemed to have a moment of complete clarity. She looked at me and said, "Just imagine. Your Grandpa and I started as just two people. And look at what grew from there!" Three daughters, three sons-in-law; six grandchildren and now six grandchildren-in-law; and, at the last count, eight great-grandchildren. Even taking into account the fact that my Grandpa is no longer around, that is a family of 27 grown from one wonderful, loving marriage. That is their legacy of love and experience. And it's not just about family. I have been feeling that way about long-lasting friendships recently. I have been trying to catch up with old friends here and there over t...

There are moments in life when the old and new come together; where what was and what is hold the same space for just a moment. I have been helping a little bit with my Grandma who, at the grand old age of nearly 92, has had to have an operation on her eye. She can’t be left alone at night and needs copious drops during the day, so we have shared out the night and day shifts, to make sure that she has the care and support she needs. When I was a non-sleeping baby, over 40 years ago, Grandma would come over once a week and walk the floors with me all night, to give my parents some sleep.   It's a special privilege to be able to return the favour on a smaller scale (at 92 she sleeps better than I did at 1, I’m pleased to say!). As I sit, tapping away on my laptop now, listening to her old clock ticking loudly as it has done for as long as I can remember in every house I remember her being in, there is a real sense of the old and new colliding. The more hazy Grandma’s sh...

This may seem a funny title for a first blog post but this week represents the "last of the lasts". For the moment, at least. My youngest son and I have both spent the last few weeks saying our goodbyes and packing up one phase of our lives, ready to embark on the next. For him, it's been about finishing at primary school, ready to start secondary school in September. For me, it's about dismantling a singing and teaching career I have worked really hard to set up and get going and have found massively rewarding, as well as challenging, ready to start training for ordination in the Church of England. Saying goodbye to schools and pupils at the end of term, ready to become a learner again myself. Perhaps I should introduce myself.  I'm Abby and I've been a singer and singing teacher for 7 years. Before that, I had a "proper job" managing communications in a government agency, where I thought I'd stay for a long time, but God seemed to have...