"P r o g r e s s" (she says loosely) next door has resulted in me treading water–a new home under construction and related heavy truck traffic has sliced through the cabling that furnishes our home telephone, tv cable and internet service three times this week. It's why I've been unusually quiet since returning from my trip to South Carolina.
I'm working on several posts I had hoped to complete, but while those were stalled due to technical difficulties, Spring cleaning has begun early in mi casa. It's also a beautiful Saturday in the Tennessee Valley and "some" of us are headed out for a bike ride and "others" of us are headed downtown on a photo walk; we'll all meet up at Coolidge park eventually.
In the meantime, after posing a question about "tradition" on Twitter and Facebook, this song was mentioned a few times. It's in keeping with one of my posts, so very appropriate to consider. Please…do yourself a favor: watch the video, delight in the song, and share with me your thoughts about traditions.
- the traditions your family celebrates (the daily things or special occasion)
- why they're important to you
- your favorites as a child and now as an adult
- the traditions you detest
- any other thoughts about establishing, keeping…or sometimes letting go of traditions and why
Fiddler is, in and of itself, a massive tradition in my family. I grew up with the story – in school, in synagogue, at home – and have seen countless stage versions in countless places at various points in my life. My grandparents, born and raised in the shtetls (villages) of eastern Europe, were real live examples of these traditions, and I was privileged to hear their experiences first-hand.
In retrospect, I wish I had been a better observer when I was a child. It comes naturally to me now by virtue of what I do for a living. But now that they’re gone, I find myself digging through my memories, trying to remember every subtle nuance of what it felt like to be sitting with them, listening to them describe the world depicted in the play and the movie. It was always so much more real when it came from them.
My mom and I were just talking about one of our family traditions (gift giving on Valentine’s Day) last week. Sometimes, I think traditions become so ingrained in our family culture that they continue to be celebrated because they are traditions and not because they are meaningful or fun things to do. But I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing – I think that having traditions is one of the ways we glue our families together.