Bringing My Mom’s Love to Life — Visually
MY HISTORY — ORIGINALLY POSTED JUNE 15, 2022 ON INSTAGRAM@THEPOINTOFYOU
9/1/2025 NOTE: My Mom was a prodigy pianist. At the age of 4, she walked up to a piano and started figuring out how to play the music she was hearing … with both hands. She had never touched a musical instrument before, and no one else in the family was musical, but the music just flowed through her. By the time she was 14, she was the organist at her church.
One of my personally favorite stories is that my Mom used to play piano, weekly, for the “company class” at the ballet studio where I studied from 6-17 years old (in partial exchange for the full scholarship I received). Most ballet accompanists (anywhere in the world) bring a stack of music books with them from which to play. Not my Mom! She would watch the steps that the dance teacher was demonstrating, and then compose music on the spot for that particular exercise. On these evenings, the observation room was particularly filled with Moms watching their daughters in ballet class … and listening to my Mom’s music. We all were more inspired when she played.
At home, up until the last year of her life, I loved to ask my Mom if she’d like to play for us. She’d sit down and just play whatever wanted to come through her. It was beautifully masterful and something we’d never heard before, always.
The photo (above) shows her with the piano teacher (Edwin Gerschefski), who chose her to work with before and throughout college, whom she followed to the University of New Mexico for her sophomore year (where she just happened to meet my Dad). The picture also shows her piano genealogy … going all the way back to both Bach and Mozart. No surprise. Her gift was THAT extraordinary.
My Mom became a highly respected teacher in her own right, with a waiting list as long as her arm. When her students walked in, she first asked about their lives. They’d share their ups and downs, often things they wouldn’t share with anyone else, and then my Mom would make each lesson (and music) supportive of these every day life experiences. Through music, my mom brought her one-of-a-kind love to life … and over the course of 80+ years, inspired countless others to do the same.
For the Celebration of Life service, in memory of my Mom (June 4th, 2022), I disappeared for several weeks and chose to pour my heart and soul into curating and creating 200 slides, with 500+ photos, to bring the fullness of her life "to life."
Family and friends expressed gratitude, often starting with, "I had no idea your Mom..."
This "storytelling" also turned out to be an even bigger gift to my Self, than I knew it would be.
I got to re-experience my Mom's brilliance and playfulness and courage and kindness, through the eyes of all I know, now. I got to be reminded of, and inspired by, just how badass she always(!!) was.
Yet, the biggest surprise and gift was to really see, for the first time, just how like her I actually am.
She would love this, I know. She would also love how much this awareness is guiding the expansion I'm starting to explore...without any need to prove anything to her. I can hear her giggling, with me, right now.
Of special note, check out the pic with her piano professor and her piano genealogy...straight back to both Bach and Mozart. AND, the one where she got to play the largest pipe organ in Europe (as a tourist), and surprised the heck out of everyone (she even asked the young man if he could "make it louder," which he immediately did!), all of which she said was one of the highlights of her life.
Kind. Badass. Indeed.
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9/2/2025 NOTE: The first slideshow, below, opened the Celebration and tells the visual story of my Mom’s life. The second slideshow, full of sweet/silly/fun moments, was the closing. I haven’t looked at these for a couple of years, yet now, I am watching them over and over and over again, before I even click the button to “publish.”
