"Three Part Harmony"

I recently returned from visiting my Son and his family in Utah. While sitting in the kitchen, watching his wife make cookies, I heard my Grand Daughter playing the piano. She is twelve years old and really plays very well. I stood behind her and watched her play, remembering the old days when my two sisters and I would sing and my older sister Karen would play the piano. Oh yes, we sure had some memorable times around that old piano. Usually, we would start off with our traditional song, Ave Maria. Three part harmony was what we would try to achieve. We started off in perfect pitch. Ah- Vay- Ma- Reeya.....etc. I would be the page turner sitting on the bench with Karen. By the time we reached the high pitched notes, I would sing a different tune and change octaves. Betsy would get really annoyed at me, and say, "Joanne, you are singing my part". We would then start over and attempt to get it right. But that did not happen, as I would always get to that spot in the song and switch to Betsy's part. We then would attempt to start again and we would start to laugh so hard that we could not finish the song. Ah- Vaaaaay ha, ha ha ,laugh ,laugh, ha ha... Such a riot to watch. My Father had a beautiful voice. He would often join in with our sing-a-longs. Mom would join as well, but her voice was terrible so some times we did not invite her. I think she was insulted.. That became a running joke in our family about Mom and her singing voice.
We are all grown up now, with families of our own. I live 3000 miles away, but get together with the family when possible. We still gather around the old piano at Karen,s house and attempt to finish, Ave Maria, without laughing. To this day, Betsy still says to me, "Joanne, you are singing my part".