The sound of music
Often times, the words to various songs would cause Filly to sit back and think, how as a child, she just like to listen to the beat and the vibe. But now, the songs she paid attention to, had more to say to her than just the beat or the vibe. The words were actually what she felt was most important.
“Burn down the mission”, a song she had loved to sing, suddenly conflicted with her beliefs about God and Religion and she could not support it. Songs by Taylor Swift, similarly, did not hold the same joy they had originally held, once Filly saw a video Taylor shaking her head no, refusing to acknowledge God, at an awards benefit for someone else.
“God support” and faith by the public, was the reason for success, and the reason for Christmas being early this year. Filly even saw a yard on the way to school, completely decked out for Christmas as if to say Joy to the world…the LORD has come.
And many of the joyful songs Filly loved came from a handful of movies that her parents were willing to take her to growing up, including songs from “the sound of music”.
In contrast to songs about burning down the mission, the songs in this movie talked about “climbing every mountain”…and about “a dream that will need, all the love you can give, every day of your life, for as long as you live”.
That movie Filly believed, had so many similarities to her life growing up, and the lives of her parents that it was uncanny. And like the song at the beginning of the movie, Filly often wanted to shout that “the hills are alive with the sound of music, with songs they have sung, for a thousand years.
Filly believed that creation, in things that were God ordained, were intrinsically joyous, and expressed that joy in a wordless music, like a song that could not help but be expressed. Truth, goodness and joy were “singing through the night, like a lark who is learning to pray”. Sometimes, life felt like “the night” with only the clear voice of Truth and faith in God, providing a light at the end of a tunnel.
Her dad, a unique military man, like Captain Von Trapp, was likewise originally engaged to a beautiful, well to do, debutante Mary Lib.
But then when on duty in Texas, he met her mom, Cleta.
Cleta was a sweet and innocent catholic girl, much like Maria in the sound of Music, who lived beside the convent and communed daily with the nuns, and it was she who stole his heart.
And like the movie, Filly’s dad broke the engagement when his fiancé refused to come to Texas where he was stationed at Harlingen Texas, to pin his wings on him and instead wanted to go on a tour of Europe with her family. Though Filly’s dad had written her mom a “dear John” letter, he had returned and proposed.
On that momentous day, for her mom, her dad had given his mother-in-law to be a huge bouquet of flowers, and then had waited in the front of the house in his green car, waiting for Filly’s mom to walk home from her work to surprise her and propose to her.
Like the movie, Filly’s siblings all wore matching handmade clothes.
They did puppet shows with a puppet theater made by her dad, like the children did in the movie .
They rode bikes as a family.
They read books on the bed together and sang songs as a family.
But most importantly her dad, like Von Trapp, did not like the socialist/communist government trying to take over his homeland.
And he stood up strong and tall against it, the same way Von Trapp did.
The movie The Sound of Music, paid close attention to the captain and to Maria. Filly’s mother, as she said earlier, like Maria, grew up very close to a convent, where the nuns ran the school that she attended and it was a very influential and important part of her life growing up.
Filly’s mom played the ukulele and loved to gather the children on the bed and read stories to make them smile, like in the movie where Maria played the guitar.
The nuns told Filly’s mom “she was vain and that she needed to work on herself” but they were always there when she needed them, helping her take care of the twins when she would go over to the playground by the convent, much like “the problem called Maria”.
Filly’s mom, was one of nine children. But in the movie, The sound of Music, Filly believed she and her sisters were the ones mirrored as Maria’s adopted children both in looks and personality. The Von Trapp children, starting with Brigetta mirroring Filly, Louisa mirroring Filly’s older sister Heidi, Kurt (a boy) mirrored Fillys younger sister Andy (in personality), Marta mirroring Steph, and Gretl mirroring Tina. Each of the personalities matched.
To see the movie again, as an adult and to wonder if her family actually did provide the real life personalities, upon which the actors studied and learned to portray, was quite interesting. It was uplifting for Filly to know that back when she was little and when her mom was growing up, there had been a strong connection to God and church and family that superseded everything else, that captured the attention and was an attraction for the good people of the world who still believed in “one nation under God.”
Had her parents been aware of the mirroring? Filly believed that they were aware in their own humble yet dynamic and creative way. She recognized how her parents both taught her and her siblings to be leaders, to live a life based on God ideas, and to be grateful and humble and to work hard using whatever talents available.
Their marriage cemented a way of life that was foundational for her country of birth the same way the actions of The Von Trapp Family were momentous for Austria.
She saw that in life, her parents had to “climb every mountain” and there had been so many of these mountains to overcome, the loss of the elections, the financial hole they had to climb out of, the intentional catholic education they financially supported, the loss of their dad in a plane crash, the loss of a sibling to maternal death during childbirth, as well as other moral challenges that caused disruption in family harmony.
They climbed over each of these metaphysical barriers that went against God, that had subtly invaded the communities of the USA, and caused these enemies of God to dissolve. They put on their coats and climbing gear, and got going. Filly’s dad would say, “when the going got tough, the tough got going” and they did indeed. For this, Filly was able to say with great conviction, JOY TO THE WORLD, THE LORD HAS COME.
Her large family of Texas, and his compact family of North Carolina, together had created a legacy that would not be denied and would continue on, in gratitude to the one true God.
AMEN.
Christmas this year has come early.
