A visit to Grandmama’s house was never quiet. Constant chatter and piano music like it was from the choir of a church. We would all sit at the dining room table with the colors of stained glass reflecting off our faces while Grandmama asked “How much mac and cheese do you want?”  as we drank chocolate milk trying to ignore the smell of dust in the air. We would always say we wanted all of it while trying to avoid touching the cold floors.But then out of nowhere you could hear a bird chirping every hour and during the summer you would maybe think it came from a bird outside the open windows, but during the winter, for anyone who never heard it it was weird to hear a bird. But it was never a bird at all, it was Grandmama’s old wooden Cuckoo clock that was chirping on the hour. Nobody knows where she got it or when she got it but we’ve lived in Minnesota for many generations so she must have got it here.  The Cuckoo Clock would always remind us of my Grandmama but it would also remind me of music. Music has always been a huge part of my family, we sing at church and play piano for ourselves and others but music is also the way that my family connects to our German-Irish ancestors and to the other people around us. 

– Joanna K.

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