Sound of Music

I finally caught the much acclaimed Sound of Music, 40 years after it was screened. Of course I couldn’t have seen it that long ago either, but I didn’t watch it during my childhood.

I watched it in my living room with Marcus sitting on my lap enjoying it with me. It is a great experience for me to watch the musical now, since it has special meanings to me and Marcus. After all, our warm little home has been made even warmer lately with the sounds of music coming out of my Marcus’ little mouth as he hums or sings many songs from the musical. He first got interested listening to the CD, and has loved the Do Re Mi straightaway. He learnt the lyrics all by himself, simply through listening to it nightly before bedtime. His only requests are “mama, keep the light on and door open please. And I want Do Re Mi please’. Then one night he surprised us by being able to sing the whole song and we were even more pleased when he started “the hills are alive with the sound of music… “. We couldn’t stop smiling.

Three weeks ago, E got him the DVD and he watched it with papa with full concentration. It must have been such a memorable experience, to be able to watch the whole story unfold for the first time, while listening to the familiar music and songs that have been accompanying him for the past weeks during his slumbering. One day we shall take him to Salzburg and the mountains for a complete experience! Hah!

No wonder I always feel that I was cheated of a proper childhood. No toys, plenty of TV and never even visited a playground till I was 10, though for years there was one right next to the void deck of my HDB block. I did watch plenty of TV though, too much for a child, in my current opinion. And the problem is I couldn’t remember a thing of the kind of programmes I watched either.