My Name is You

Sooner or later we all discover that the important moments in life are not the advertised ones, not the birthdays, the graduations, the weddings, not the great goals achieved. The real milestones are less prepossessing. They come to the door of memory unannounced, stray dogs that amble in, sniff around a bit and simply never leave. Our lives are measured by these.

--Susan B. Anthony, Unitarian

Today was the last day of RE for us this year, which was memorable in many ways: our director is leaving; I won't be teaching next year; and our kids won't have the same teachers next year.

The RE service always includes all the classes. My class, the Grades 2-4, acted as Greeters, handing out the Orders of Service. They also lit the chalice as I read the quote above, which was intended to embrace the importance of each week's class and not just the big service at the end.

Sis and Bud's class got up to sing a song which the teachers had adapted to their class. Guess which part I like best?! Bud and Sis, who knew the lyrics by heart in practice, were (not surprisingly) shy at the performance and wouldn't do the hand signals or call out their names (hey, at least they stood up there without me; I just sat right in front of them in the front row). You could however see their lips moving to every single word, even if you couldn't hear them (don't fret, Gommie, we taped this too).

"We All Sing With the Same Voice"

by Philip Miller & Sheppard Greene (with adaptations)

My hair is black and brown. My hair is yellow.

My eyes are brown and green and blue.

( Each child calls out his name , whatever order we end up standing in)

My name is YOU.

We live in Stamford, I’m from Westport, We come from Weston and Fairfield.

I live down the street, By the mountains, near the beach.

I come from everywhere, And my name is you.

We all sing with the same voice, the same song, The same voice.

We all sing with the same voice, And we sing in harmony.

Sometimes I get mad and mean. Sometimes I feel happy.

And when I want to cry I do.

When I’m by myself at night, I hold my bunny tight, Until the morning light,

My name is you.

I have sisters one, two, three, In my family’s there’s just me.

I’ve got one mommy. I’ve got two.

My friends live on my street. Our cats walk on furry feet.

We love all our pets. My name is you.

We all sing with the same voice, the same song, The same voice.

We all sing with the same voice, And we sing in harmony.

I like to run and climb. I like to sit and read.

I like to watch my TV too. And when it’s time for bed, I like my stories read, “Sweet dreams” and “ love you” said.

My name is you.

We all sing with the same voice, the same song, The same voice.

We all sing with the same voice, And we sing in harmony.