COUNTING MY BLESSINGS....!

A series of essays....

WHILE TAKING AN EARLY MORNING WALK AROUND
THE NEIGHBORHOOD IN QUIN, IRELAND, WE SPOTTED
A BIT OF THE HOLIDAYS IN SOMEONE'S FRONT YARD.

....as seen through my eyes!





By: Jacqueline E. Hughes

Irving Berlin, initially, did not intend for his song, “Count Your Blessings (Instead Of Sheep),” to become part of a classic December holiday song. However, each year we remember it in the 1954 movie, White Christmas, as two of the main characters played by Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney sing it to one another in order to advance their relationship and remind themselves to remember how much they are blessed instead of brooding about short-term problems.

During the holidays of my youth, I can remember, literally, bouncing off the walls in anticipation of Santa’s visit on Christmas Eve. Once, adrenaline pumped and playing my own hairdresser, I feverishly created short, jagged bangs where no bangs existed before, only after having given two of my favorite dolls a similar coiffure for the holidays! My hair grew back out. Sadly, theirs did not.

The song originally came about based on a personal experience of Berlin’s when his doctor suggested he try counting his blessings as a way to deal with his stress induced insomnia. My sweet Mother absolutely adored this movie and in a loving attempt at settling us kids down in the nights before Santa’s arrival, she would sit on the side of each of our beds and sing us to sleep via Irving Berlin’s lyrics. Maybe we didn’t quite fall asleep, but it certainly took the edge off of our childhood expectations and eyes were closed with the possibility of sleep soon to follow.

Having raised two rambunctious little ones of my own, especially around Christmastime, I was never surprised by their boisterous activities with the sound of laughter and footsteps echoing from their upstairs rooms and swirling down through the large, oak staircase before reaching my ears. For the most part, they were happy sounds, good sounds, without anyone crying or screaming. I instinctively knew the different sounds of my girls playing and precisely when parental intervention was in order as ‘good’ transformed into ‘Lord, I better get up there!’ 

So, this particular sound caught me by surprise just a few days before Christmas. It was the sound....of silence. 

“I should have known better,” is a phrase best forgotten once all is returned to a semblance of normalcy. Sitting at our claw-foot dining room table while addressing envelopes for the handwritten Christmas cards to be sent out the following day, it suddenly dawned on me that the joyous sounds of children at play had ceased. All was quiet as if a huge index finger held up to gigantic lips had totally encompassed our home on State Street. As this sudden realization roiled over me like a turbulent mixture of bubbles and foam, I heard a quiet shift of sound emanating from the kitchen right behind me.

Slowly turning around in my chair, the sight that greeted me was one that only a parent could fully appreciate. Standing side-by-side, my two angels, torn between fear and pride, faced the future with their heads up and hands down by their sides. Flashbacks struck my soul with tiny bolts of lightening piercing my heart and I knew immediately that I had one of two choices to make. I could cry like a needy baby or I could allow my gut instinct to take over and double over in my seat with tears of laughter knowing that karma was a real and, occasionally, alarming thing!

My eight-year-old, long, blond hair falling down over her eyes striking a youthful Veronica Lake pose, was attempting to hide something she held in her right hand. My youngest, having lived four-and-a-half years alongside our ‘Miss Lake
lookalike' and always having held her own, stood as still as a Roman statue while piercing me with her large, blue eyes, waiting for my approval.  

The ingenuity of my oldest lives with me, especially at Christmas, as I envision the light from the chandelier bouncing off of the scissors she held in her small hands. Without a wisp of her own hair challenged by this cutting tool, she said, “Do you like her hair, Mom? She sat really still for me while I gave her a new Christmas look. Is it okay, Mom? Why are you crying?”

Well, I must have sat there for at least one, solid minute while counting my blessings, tears in my eyes, and staring at the short, jagged bangs where no bangs existed before on our youngest daughter. It was as though I was transported back into time, sharing my own cunning imagination with the world without a thought of possible consequences. Unsuccessfully holding back tears of wonder.....feeling relieved and thankful, I sat thinking to myself, it will grow back and no eyes were put out or skin marred in the process!

I realized way back then that our blessings come in many shapes, forms, and sizes. Counting them each night instead of sheep in order to rest softly upon our pillows, dream encouraging dreams, and see a brighter day in the morning, isn’t such a bad idea at all. 

This holiday season I will stop indulging in self-pity or complaining and be grateful for all of the good people and things in my life, live each day to the fullest, and try not to become too unhappy about the bad things...they will pass. Learning to fully appreciate each breath we take and smiling until our facial muscles stop hurting and our smile becomes a permanent facial fixture, will only encourage others to follow suit.

So, my appreciation goes out to Irving Berlin’s quick thinking doctor and the fact that Berlin saw and captured the advantages of counting his blessings and was insightful enough to share them with us via his timeless and meaningful song.

Count Your Blessings (Instead Of Sheep)

Irving Berlin

When I'm worried and I can't sleep

I count my blessings instead of sheep

And I fall asleep counting my blessings

When my bankroll is getting small

I think of when I had none at all

And I fall asleep counting my blessings

I think about a nursery and I picture curly heads

And one by one I count them as they slumber in their beds

So if you're worried and you can't sleep

Count your blessings instead of sheep

And you'll fall asleep counting your blessings

Courtesy: GENIUS

Copyright © 2018 by Jacqueline E. Hughes

All rights reserved