A thank you note - no, not that kind, the musical kind

It comes as no surprise (as I say it all the time), I like to sing.  I am not a rock star, not an opera singer, I am just someone who got blessed with my parent's talent and love to sing.  Good times or bad, I sing it out.  What do I sing and why?  We'll get to that.

My parents are strong people, they had to be with the lifestyle we lived.  We moved around and yet, they always made it feel like home no matter what.  I was raised that you have to live for today and tomorrow, you can't live in yesterday so I don't.  I was raised by these amazing people and I am stronger because of them.  I hold onto memories, not houses or towns.  (Okay - it appears UD is an exception as it is now Alex's home and it is hard to let go of somewhere that clearly runs in your family's soul but that is not what this is about so moving on.)  Yesterday, I was driving to the house I bought for Alex and me when he was 1 years old and I had a moment of pause. 

See, I have leased the house out for years and am now selling it.  Yes, it is just a house, it has not been a home in a long time, but yesterday was a little hard.  I drove up to my little house with the perfect red door that I painted and brick mailbox that was a birthday present and had a moment of pause.  I wasn't expecting the emotion, wasn't expecting the hesitation that I was selling Alex's first house, that I was selling my house.  I found myself having a hard time getting past it to be honest, and that is odd for me.  I will always remember the memories, the family and friends who made the little house with a red door a home.  Run for the roses, right?  That is what we Reilly's do.  It is okay for it to be hard, it should be hard, it's how you deal with the hard that matters.

I could have cried, and if I had, that would have been fine but I didn't.  Driving away, I turned up Abba - loud - and starting singing Thank you for the Music.  Why not my soul song Dancing Queen?  Well it's simple, I was literally thanking my parents for giving me music.  Music helps me cope with life.  I was singing and laughing about closing a chapter of my life - I was coping in my own way and moving on.   I am not saying I won't have another moment of pause when I sign the closing papers, won't drive by the house in a few weeks, months, years, and smile.  That I won't have to sing again and that it will be the same song.  In fact, I can almost guarantee it won't be, I am fickle like that, but for now?  Well I am saying thank you for the music Mom and Daddy, thank you for always letting me dance and sing in my own way, to my own orchestra. Thank you for giving me music and teaching me to be strong and look forward to tomorrow.  Thank you for the music, for giving it to me.