So last year when my mother was transitioning into the final stages of dying, I played the Celtic Women Amazing Grace recording for her and sang along – it was one of her favorite hymns and it seemed to calm some of the agitation she was expressing. This past Easter Sunday was the first anniversary of my mother’s death – and my sister and I had the privilege of attending the Easter service at The Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. My oldest daughter was playing in the brass section and she had invited us to the service and managed to get us some passes so we had good seats. It was such a majestic service – the choir sounded like angels singing – the horns celebrated the Risen Christ with their music, and Judy Collins (a folk singer from the 60’s just in case you’re not sure) was right next to us in one of the side pulpits and sang – wait for it – Amazing Grace and the congregation was invited to sing along with her. Isn’t God great? He knows the landslide of emotion I have been dealing with in the past year. Even though it’s not debilitating or life-altering, it sometimes is exhausting and there’s really no solution to it except to keep on going through it. And for some reason, for me, when I started to sing Amazing Grace, I was finally able to let go of some of the anguish and celebrate the fact that my mother was with the Lord and was no longer in pain or living in the deluge of dementia here on earth. I felt a peace that I wasn’t able to previously enjoy because I had ten years of stored away emotions that I had kept in check so that I would be able to interact with my mother and not be a complete basket case. What a fitting tribute to the day. And I got to sing with Judy Collins – how amazing is that!!