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The New Domesticity: Committed to Memory

The New Domesticity: Committed to Memory

Although I hadn’t heard the sound for many years, memories flooded my mind as I gingerly placed the needle over the vinyl. Scratch . . . scratch . . . the record spun, and the sweet old strains floated through the room. The children gathered around the new record player in awe and delight. They picked up album after album, eagerly playing the familiar tunes. From “Seventy-Six Trombones” to “Robin Hood and Little John,” we were swept back in time.

The latter brought the whole family to familiar territory, and even my husband was singing along, “Oo-de-lally, oo-de-lally, golly, what a day!” He went on to recite each song from that 1973 “Robin Hood” album, and I marveled—not for the first time—at the way music enhances the memory. Indeed, I can still recite the last memorable lines of the Statue of Liberty poem, which were set to music for our school performance at Minnehaha Elementary: “I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Memory itself is a golden door through which we find stores of delights; and we would do well to care for the minds of our growing children. During this month of love, let’s consider some ways to LOVE our minds and cultivate the faculty of memory.

To read more, pick up a copy of the February 2018 issue at any of these locations, or view the digital archive copy here.

Julianna Lawson and her husband, Jamie, make their home in Vancouver with their four children, ages 14 to 22.

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