Songs of the Heart

JUST IN:  Good news, Scooby's hip evaluation results are in:  OFA GOOD! This rating, assigned in comparison to other animals of the same age and breed, is slightly less than Pippin's "OFA EXCELLENT"  (superior hip conformation)  but a well-formed congruent hip joint is visualized. The ball fits well into the socket and good coverage is present.  

Celtic Woman perform You'll Be In My Heart from their "Songs of the Heart" tour.

Tomorrow night our good friend Julie (who owns Sassy and Bulletman) and I will be attending the Celtic Woman Songs of the Heart concert together. We have been looking forward to this for weeks and I just can't wait for the reality of it. I plan to bring my camera, a light jacket, and tissues to wipe any tears away.

John and I have enjoyed the music of Celtic Woman for several years now. I discovered them quite by chance one evening waiting for pups to be born, flipping through channels and landing on a PBS station promoting their music. Immediately I was captivated by the sound of their Celtic instruments, the pipes, drums, fiddle, flute and harp.  Their beautiful voices as well as the amazing choreography and pageantry that accompanied it. Shortly afterwards I bought my first Celtic Woman CD, and another and another.

We have always tried to keep music playing in the dog house, especially during whelping and nursing. Consequently there are CD's which have played over and over. (we are technically challenged; no mp3s with a gazillion songs - YET - we still rely on casettes and CD's in most cases, and don't even ask about our 8-tracks in storage.) There are also favorite songs which remind me of certain Brittanys. Before you roll your eyes, please know that music has ALWAYS played an important part of my life and not only am I a vocalist but I have played the piano, flute, guitar, and keyboard. There is a whole library of songs in my heart for all of my family, friends, and yes - for each and every Brittany. Really! Anyway, it has been the music of Celtic Woman or Jim Brickman that has been most frequently played for ATB and in the past I have made CD's for people to take home to play for their brand new puppies.

(Personally, songs of my heart include "Shambalaya" by 3-Dog Night and it makes me think of my childhood friend Polly, the day we 'ahem' skipped high school and spent the afternoon at Salisbury Beach on the rides, and singing that song on the "Himalaya".  Richard Chamberlain of Dr. Kildare fame (dating myself) sang a beautiful song years ago "Three Stars Will Shine Tonight". *oh do check this old song out, and it makes me think these days of Wish, Treasure and ATB... I used to crank out "Piece of My Heart" by Janis Joplin in the day, and every Beatle song had a life story attached to it.   Most important of all, there are many love songs that make me think of my wonderful husband, and I have songs for each child and grandchild. There are songs of difficult times in my life - when I didn't even realize that God was using music and lyrics to touch a hurting heart - either mine or the heart of someone I cared about.  He still does this.)

The song above in the video is You'll Be In My Heart, originally recorded by Phil Collins. You'll Be In My Heart is one of those beautiful songs that can have many different meanings. Don't laugh when I say it reminds me of my Brittany Timberdoodle as does the song Fields of Gold.  Timber was my handsome pup who died of cancer a little over 2 years old. Talk about heart - he was/is a heart dog. And I know that there is a chance I will hear one if not both of those songs tomorrow night as they are on the CD. That's why I will have to have tissues on hand while enjoying the concert with my friend of the heart.

What is really cool is that shortly after Julie and I became friends (courtesy of God using a Brittany to bring our families together) I discovered Julie is also a Celtic Woman fan.  We were riding together in her new van and I glanced down to see she had their CD "New Journey".

I've said it before and I'll say it again.  I hope everyone is blessed to have two kinds of friends - the silver kind and the gold kind. (Make new friends but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold.)  There are seasons of friendship when certain people come into our lives for a particular reason.  Sometimes they are here for a long time, others are quickly gone, and there are those who come and go.  There are those that we may simply take for granted until they are no longer here. I am blessed by the golden friendships of my childhood and younger years, and although not a part of each others daily life, we remain in each others hearts.   I share the joy of new, rich silver friendships that equally bless my life.  There are times when both silver and gold meet each other.  I enjoy my friends getting to know each other regardless of how long we've known one another or how we met.   I will always believe it is God who causes certain paths to cross, as part of His design and providence.

Anyway!  It was not too long ago I received an exciting email from Julie telling me that the Celtic Woman Songs of the Heart tour was coming to Maine and asked if I was interested in going. I was absolutely interested but at first wasn't sure I could get away from ATB as it is a couple of days before the Brittany club's  fun day, which we do host. But shortly afterwards another email came with the exciting words "I HAVE TICKETS FOR CELTIC WOMAN IN MY HAND."  Julie was holding two tickets; one for her and one for me. And the rest, will soon be history!  Take care and God Bless you and  yours always, John, Ann and All Things Brittany