Video Potpourri

It all started with the girls' and my watching some reruns of The Golden Girls last night.

When I was a kid, my mom used to struggle to stay awake through a television show; no matter how much she wanted to watch a program, it seemed that the moment her butt hit the living room chair, her eyelids closed. She even resorted to watching while standing up if it was something she was really determined to see. But she never had that problem with The Golden Girls, a show at which I have clear memories of her laughing to the point of tears. "Those damned old ladies!" she would remark affectionately. Those golden girls are still funny in syndication, and our three little golden girlies like to watch episodes of it with Daddy occasionally.

The girls were singing the lyrics to the theme song during breakfast this morning, which prompted us to make a trip afterward to the Interwebs to see if we could find the full version (in syndication, the episodes begin with a shortened version of the original opening). We did find the full opening version, but we also found a version of the song that preceded its selection (and its popularity) as The Golden Girls' theme:

Since Mom was already on my mind because of The Golden Girls, I thought of "Because He Lives," a hymn she liked so much that she wrote a note requesting that it be sung/played at her own funeral--a note that my sisters and I found in the piano bench after her death, and a request that we were able to honor. The music and lyrics are by Bill and Gloria Gaither, longtime musicians with a ministry, who explain the song's origins here:

And here is a concert performance of the song involving the entire Gaither musical crew:

Considering the meaning of the lyrics and absorbing the full effect of the music and the words and the sincerity of the performers and recalling memories of Mom had us all in tears. So we continued our cathartic Christian music video watching with this number that is one of the girls' favorites: "I Can Only Imagine" performed by Mercy Me:

And finally, to wring out any fluid that might possibly have been remaining in our tear ducts at that point, we watched one more video that always leaves Susan and me sobbing at the thought of our daughters' persistent and inevitable daily march toward adulthood: "Let Them Be Little" performed by Billy Dean:

I hope you, too, enjoy them (and cry, if you have a heart!). And Mom, thanks for a morning of good memories and healthy tears. We love you.