Memories of childhood days long forgotten can be stirred to the surface sometimes by a simple thing. This one came from a brief exchange remembering the early days when Mom went back to work. A kind lady several houses down the street from ours watched our younger sister after kindergarten till we got home from our schools. I remembered that she sometimes had a simple treat to offer me – sugared butter bread!

As I thought about her house with its broad front porch complete with swing and its bright, cheery kitchen, a snatch of song came. As I waited on it, the song seemed to come from the old record player in her living room and I stepped back in time listening.

     Tra-la-la, tweedlee dee dee it gives me a thrill

     To wake up in the morning to the mockin’ bird’s trill

     Tra-la-la, tweedlee dee dee There’s peace and goodwill 

     You’re welcome as the flowers on Mockin’bird Hill

“Mockingbird Hill”. I loved that song and the cheerfulness of it all, imagining storybook cottages as I twirled about. Today, as I queued it up to play, I realized that I live that girlish dream!

It’s all different and yet the same and my heart is filled with gladness.

I wish you peace and goodwill from our hill in the country where Mockingbirds sing and nest outside our window.