Musical Holidays
Some fond musical memories that I had with Oma came around the holidays. Every Christmas, she lead us in a caroling session consisting of German and Estonian Christmas songs. She would put her own musical flare into the piano making a more common Christmas song extraordinary. She always remained humble regarding her musical talent and her ability to transpose and recreate pieces on the piano, however, I remember one Thanksgiving she truly amazed me with this talent. While she was helping in the kitchen with the turkey and other dinner preparations, she found the time to help my sister and myself with a hymn we were going to sing at church that was too high for our vocal ranges. Between basting the turkey and figuring out the perfect timing for every dish in the oven, she was able to run over to the piano for us, and while sight-reading the music, she transposed the entire hymn as she was playing. She then was able to rewrite all of the music on blank sheet music paper before checking on the turkey again. Additionally, during that same meal prep period, she found time and energy to teach a more efficient way to play a piece I had been practicing on the piano. In that moment, I was amazed at how easily she was able to musically complete what many would consider very difficult work, even without Thanksgiving dinner cooking on the stove. Her talent and her immediate readiness to help myself and my sister is telling of the person she was as she would always dedicate as much time as she could to her grandchildren. I will always admire her for how she was not only a talented musician, but she also was a wonderful and caring grandmother, constantly putting her grandchildren's needs before her own. I will always think back to her with such a smile on my face and will always feel the warmth of her love.