I lost my poor meatball when somebody sneezed!

A few weeks ago at work I participated in an orientation of sorts for new hires (I’ve been working here since November, but as a temporary worker. I was offered a regular job here at the end of June). I won’t go into specifics about what was done during orientation, but during one session we were asked to remember a childhood song and share it with the group. I picked what I’ve always called the Spaghetti song, even though it is obviously about meatballs and not pasta. When I sing this song, I think of the many MANY hours I spent in the car with my brother to and from Davis, where my parents would meet pick us up/drop us off for their scheduled weekends. There were some years where we lived most of the time with our mom and visited our dad on weekends, and sometimes it was the other way around. But we always met in Davis because my dad’s house and my mom’s house were in cities three hours apart, and Davis was the halfway point. As you can imagine, two kids in the car for 6 hours every weekend is fun for no one, so we would sing to pass the time. One of the songs we would sing was the Spaghetti song.

Many times my grandmother would drive us and we would beg her to sing that song, and plenty of others, over and over again. There was Strawberry Jam, Dear Henry, the Dummy Line, and later on I’m Gonna Tell, which is one of my favorites:

I’m gonna tell, I’m gonna tell!

I’m gonna holler and I’m gonna yell,

And I’ll get you in trouble for everything you do!

I’m gonna tell on you!

It’s such a goofy song, and it makes me laugh (that’s why I like it so much). One thing  that is so central to my life is singing. I sing when I’m happy, when I’m sad, when I want to remember and sometimes when I want to forget. There are songs I cannot get through without crying because they are so emotionally significant or stimulating that I can’t stop the flow of tears (of joy, of pain, of grief and relief). Singing keeps me connected to humanity. Singing with others is one of my greatest joys. I think singing can and should be a part of any spiritual practice because it is an easy and meaningful way of connecting with others and with the Divine. I don’t know a lot of spiritual songs that I feel i can incorporate into my rituals, but I plan on creating my own in the future (don’t worry, I’ll keep you in the loop).