When You Walk Through a Storm

When my kids were little, they were, like many children, contradictory. They didn't fail to tell me that I didn't have a good voice. Perhaps this was in contrast to my husband, who did, or the records and movie musicals we played on which the singers definitely did. Not to mention the live performances we took them to. No one could deny my enthusiasm about singing, or the fact that their grandparents -- long before they were born -- used to encourage me to sing and even to "perform" in front of company. But not many people -- especially not my children -- would declare me a good singer. So where was the contradictory nature? It was that whenever it as time to put my kids to sleep, who was the one they asked to sing to them? It could be our musical tastes and abilities. My husband could sing them arias galore, but their tastes didn't run in that direction. I could sing some arias, but again ... On the other hand, I knew slews of Hebrew songs and songs from Broadway musicals; it was my strength to memorize tons of lyrics as well as the melodies. So that's what I sang. And somehow, as I as trying to put my kids to sleep, they forgot that I "couldn't sleep." 
This morning I was reminded of that and of one of my favorite songs I sang to them when one of our friends post a virtual choral concert of it online. (Yes, we're still in corona time.) A number of young singers from 15 countries, each in isolation, sang "When You Walk Through a Storm," from Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Carousel." The team has sometimes been accused of sentimentality; certainly their songs are not those of Stephen Sondheim, who was a mentor of Hammerstein but went off in a different direction. But for me, the song has always been comforting in difficult times. Oh, yes, to be accurate, the song is "You'll Never Walk Alone," but either way, it is a song that makes people less afraid. I won't sing for you, but see if you can find it on YouTube.