Another year has passed, and I've lost another family member. My aunt passed away the day after Christmas. She had been growing weaker in the past few years, and we made sure to visit her when she was in our area. She was my mom's only sister. There were three children in the family altogether, and the remaining relative is my uncle, who lives in Southern California. They were all close, so I'm a little concerned about him feeling lonely. He used to chat with my aunt often. We attended her funeral this past weekend, and it was great to meet with cousins we hadn't seen for a long time. Her children were older than us and living in different states, so we didn't get to meet often. I was happy to see that she was buried in a cemetery that was overlooked by the mountain I used to see from the bedroom I slept in at her house when we visited while she was taking care of Grandma. It's a beautiful red rock formation on the east side, overlooking two cities, Toquerville and La Verkin. That brought back some good memories.
I'm back on the singing practice again. Once the Christmas things finished, practices for another meeting were needed for a conference in January. The songs the choir is learning are beautiful arrangements and a little more challenging in some places, which I'm all for. I really love it when they challenge me!
Here's to a new year! To be honest, last year was a little difficult for me. I really had some emotional struggles going on, and I think at least part of it was on account of reaching the one-year anniversary of my brother's death. People say that the grief is difficult at the beginning, but I found for me personally, it was after the year mark that was harder, and I felt comforted to learn that it's rather common for people to experience that in the second year. Glad to know I'm still normal, relatively speaking. 😉
Here's a recording I made of one of the Christmas songs I sang in. As I explain in the YouTube description, the recording is highly favoring the piano. I recorded from my phone, and I haven't yet figured out an alternative recording spot where I know no one will play with it. I was singing second soprano. We were slightly outnumbered, but I think we were mostly audible. BTW, for the conference, there's also a women's only number, so I'll see if I can get a copy of it. Someone often records that for us.
