I’m not sure who made the decision, but collectively all five siblings in my family have worked on the eulogy for my mother. I’m so very proud of my brothers and sisters in their abilities to write coherently and articulately, and writing the eulogy together has been an enlightening experience. Aren’t Google Docs great?

Of course, there are several stories about my mother’s love for music. In fact, I only found out from this collective writing experience that she once wanted to become a concert pianist but decided her fingers were too short.

She ensured that all her children took music lessons at an early age. I’m not sure any of us were asked whether we wanted lessons or not. The three girls now do music on a professional basis, and the two boys are talented amateurs.

There was something she told me early on in my organ study that I still tell my organ students today. “If you don’t know the piece, don’t play so LOUD!”

On her 90th birthday, she decided to have a big party at the house and over 150 people came. 17 family members performed on a variety of instruments. The performers included all five siblings, grandchildren, nieces and nephews. But the highlight of the evening was when the 90-year-old birthday girl played a Mozart duet (3 movements) with her 20s-something piano teacher, and got a standing ovation! Even though it had been about 60 years since she had played in public, she did very well.

Hey, I found out there is an excellent resource on the internet for writing eulogies, which you can find at www.eulogyspeech.net. Too bad we found this AFTER the eulogy was written!