moonfinder...

We had a busy and fun Sunday which involved travel to Pittsburgh and Youngstown, and the creation of a new song...

I was scheduled to sing in a concert in Youngstown on Sunday evening with WSC. Spur of the moment, Nat and I decided that if we were going that far, why not drive just a little further and head to IKEA? :) It was a lovely crisp blue-sky day but a bit on the cold side, so, perfect for a drive. The foliage was lovely, about a week past it's prime, I think, but still rich with oranges and yellows on the rolling PA hills. We had a fun time at IKEA, kept our spending under fair control, with our only real disappointment being that they were out of stock of the kids plastic cutlery Jack is using these days. The kiddo was adorable. He is really becoming quite adept at shopping, as on numerous occasions he picked up an item he fancied and tried to hoist it up into the cart. This was particularly cute when that item was a toddler sized chair!

After IKEA-ing we headed back to Youngstown and managed to find the church for the concert after getting only marginally lost. The concert was wonderful, actually. I'd been bitter about having to miss Melinda's baby shower thanks to the unfortunate midday timing of both events. But I have to say it may have been almost worth it. It was a really meaningful concert for John and the emotion of it carried through for the whole choir, I think. The audience was primarily members of the congregation and it was a while new experience to sing religious songs for a wholly religious audience. They really got into the spirituals section of the concert. After our first encore (and second standing ovation--- very enthusiastic religious audience!) John shared a story of being 13 years old, a member of the church we were singing in, when the Capital University Choir came to sing. He and a friend, dragged to the concert against their will, sat in the very back of the balcony, determined to not enjoy the show. “And then,” he said, “ the choir sang this arrangement of A Mighty Fortress is Our God-- and it changed my life.” We ended with that song and I think there were tears in a lot of eyes by the time we finished.

Jack managed to sit through about 2/3 of the concert pretty quietly before Nat had to take him out for a walk. After the show we snacked a bit at the reception and then headed home-- with a stop at Dunnkin Donuts on the way. While Nat ran in for our snacks, Jack and hung out in the car, and Jack decided to look for the moon. He's been very into the moon recently. He managed to find the moon, not much more than mere glimmer in the still-light evening sky, and pointed in out to me. I commented that he was quite a “moonfinder” and thus a new song was born. Sung to the tune of “moonshadow” of course, it went something like this:

I'm in the car with a moonfinder, moonfinder moonfinder.

My little boy is a moonfinder, moonfinder....

The moon is shining in the night

Shining in the sky so bright

Shining for my Jack to find,

Moonfinder moonfinder...

OK, so its a little insipid all typed out here. But he decided that he loves the song and all week, any time he has seen the moon he has wanted to hear the song. “Ting moonfinder!” he will say. “Tine-ing bright!” He is very cute!