Making Music

For weeks, since my kazoo tour, I have been bursting with the surprise for my folks 60th wedding bash. When I discovered that the kazoo factory sold kazoos that said, "Happy Anniversary", I quickly bought enough for the whole party. I enlisted my creative and hilarious sister Amy to be the MC, and told her it was to be told to NO ONE. I wanted us to engage the entire gathering in a rousing kazoo chorus of a song my folks loved, and I wanted it to be a surprise.

The day before the party, we were at lunch with my parents and siblings, and my dad said, "When I heard about your kazoo factory tour, I went online to order those kazoos for the party. I thought that would be so much fun to have a kazoo band."

I stared at him, unable to respond, thinking of my 40 kazoos stamped with "Happy Anniversary" waiting eagerly in my car.

"But," continued Dad, "I couldn't find them on Amazon."
Still unable to speak, I hurried to my sister Amy and pulled her aside, "What if he orders them now!"I cried.
"He's not going to overnight them," said Amy, "Relax."

I called Amy several times over the weeks preceding the party, anxious to hear her plans for our anniversary kazoo band. She had none yet, though had ideas and told me (kindly) to bug off. I told her I wanted to do an introductory piece on my boat horn kazoo, then she could do her spiel, we would hand out the kazoos and play the folks' favorite song. Unfortunately, we didn't know their favorite song.

At the party, Amy finally decided to let me in on the kazoo plan. Sister Holly and dear daughter in law Karissa were in the kitchen with us. As we began divulging the plan, Holly, who is admittedly the only somewhat normal one of the siblings, mocked us.
"I'm not playing the kazoo," she said.
"Then leave," I ordered her, "If you mock, you don't get in on the secrets divulged here."
"No, I am going to stay here and make fun of you," she said.
"We need you to go find out the folks' favorite song."
"Haha, no," said Holly, "I will not be party to this kazoo plan."
"I will," said Karissa.
So Karissa marched off to find out in a clever way the folks' theme song while Holly laughed at us, and Amy and I laid out our vision.

With my bag of kazoos, we headed out to the party. Karissa was in deep discussion about music with my folks. She had finally worked around to what was their favorite music of the era when they were married.
"Classical music," they said.
Karissa and I exchanged brief glances. Great. How could we get this crowd, filled with people under 16 to play Rachmaninoff on kazoo?
I jumped in, "How about something you sang to Mom?" We looked at Dad hopefully.
"Oh a little of everything."
"Like what?"
"I just was always humming, and yodeling."
Amy whispered, "We'll just go with 'Bicycle Built for Two.'"

The kids were all playing in a back field. My job was to sneak off with my boat horn kazoo, and lead them from the field like the pied piper playing my kazoo. The children, bless their little playful hearts, agreed, and followed me, having no idea why or what was up. As we marched into the party, with me blasting
"Daisy, daisy, give me your answer true..." on my boat horn kazoo, one by one the people stopped chatting and looked up. When we reached the group, everyone sat down, and Amy began. She had prepared lists of questions that happened on every single person's birthday and year. Each person was asked to determine what had happened on their birthday. If they got it right, they got a prize - a kazoo! If they got it wrong, they got a consolation prize - a kazoo!

When all the kazoos were dispersed, I led them again with my boat horn on the first 60th Anniversary Kazoo band medley of "A Bicycle Built for Two."
I noticed that no one loved the kazoos more than Holly-the-mocker's children.

As the party wound down, Holly's 7 year old daughter, Caroline, came to me.
"Did you like the kazoo?" I asked.
"Oh yes!" she replied.
"Listen, do me a favor, tell your mom that the BEST part of the party was the kazoo song."
She looked at me, turned to comply and then turned back.
"No," she said quietly, "The best part of the party was that it was for Grandma and Grandpa."
And then she majestically walked away.
Trounced soundly by a seven year old....

Lest you think too poorly of me, honestly, the kazoo band WAS for Grandma and Grandpa, who I knew would love it. But 7 year old Caroline reminded me (again) that it is doing unto others in love, honor, and service that really matters and perhaps even makes music that resounds eternally.

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Then an act of righteousness will bring about peace,calm, and safety forever. (Isaiah 32:17 GWT)

It is good to praise the and make music to your name, O Most High, You have exalted my horn like that of a wild ox; fine oils have been poured on me. My eyes have seen the defeat of my adversaries; my ears have heard the rout of my wicked foes. The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green, proclaiming, ‘The Lord is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.’ (Psalm 92:1, 10-15 NIVUK)



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