Category: Music Memories

Crying in H Mart — Michelle Zauner’s Memoir Helps Me Process the Loss of My Mother

Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared on the Ann Arbor District Library’s Pulp blog.

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Lori Stratton with her mother Carolyn Barnard at her high school graduation in June 1994.

Each year, I look forward to the summer solstice. There’s something magical about the longest day of the year and the maximum amount of daylight that it brings.

But by June 20, 2020, at the age of 44, my outlook on the summer solstice changed unexpectedly. I awoke early that morning to sunlight streaming through my windows and felt excited about the day ahead.

My husband Brian and I were getting ready to visit my in-laws and celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary with the rest of the family. We were just about the leave the house when we heard an expected knock on our door at 8 am.

I opened the door and saw my father on the front porch looking ragged and exhausted. There was an unrecognizable sadness on his face when he said, “L, Your mother passed away last night.”

Those words punched me right in the gut, and it took me a moment to process what he had just said. My father explained that my mother had a heart attack the night before; she had collapsed instantly and then died.

He tried to revive her before the paramedics came, but it was too late. I was surprised that a heart attack had taken my mother’s life at 75 instead of Alzheimer’s. She had been battling that disease for nearly a decade, and I had prepared myself for that outcome gradually.

Continue reading “Crying in H Mart — Michelle Zauner’s Memoir Helps Me Process the Loss of My Mother” →

Thanks, Mom and Dad – My Parents’ Early Appreciation of The Beatles Finally Rubs Off

I used to think The Beatles were overrated.

While growing up, their name popped every time I read about my favorite artists’ musical influences, listened to “best of” musical countdowns on the radio or watched a documentary about the history of rock and roll on TV.

My parents raved about The Beatles during their early college days at Ohio University in 1964-1965. The songs “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” “Can’t Buy Me Love,” “A Hard Day’s Night” and “Eight Days a Week” served as the soundtrack of their transition from youth to adulthood.

Anytime The Beatles were mentioned, my parents fondly recalled dancing to their songs at college mixers, watching them play on “The Ed Sullivan Show” and getting excited about the British Invasion.

Over the years, my dad and I would have this recurring conversation:

“Dad, Were The Beatles really that big of a deal?”  I asked.

 “L, They were a big deal. Everything changed overnight here when they played ‘The Ed Sullivan Show.’ Before The Beatles came here, all that boring folk music was popular. That stuff put me to sleep,” he said.

 “I still don’t get it,” I said while shaking my head in disbelief. “I guess I had to be there.”

Continue reading “Thanks, Mom and Dad – My Parents’ Early Appreciation of The Beatles Finally Rubs Off” →