It’s easy to take something for granted when you grow up in close proximity to it. Every now and then I wonder how weird it is for kids of celebrities to see their parents, or their parents’ work, talked about by so many people who don’t even really know them. Truth is, even though my parents are far from famous, they are known in certain remote circles. So I have had a taste of that. And from time to time it really hits home to me the sort of honor it is to be a daughter of Michael & Sally O’Connor.
The most recent example came when I was transferring their lyrics to an iPad. This project is to give Mom better visibility on the words when she’s sharing in concert.
Hopefully it will encourage her to retire the old lyric binder, with pages so creased and worn that the edges look more like aged felt than paper. The project only took me a few days, but in the process I rediscovered my parents’ music.
In the process of digitizing the lyrics, I retyped everything, double checked for my own typos, then played around with formatting a good bit. The project only took me a few days, but in the process I rediscovered my parents’ music.
Yeah, rediscovered. If you grew up with Hey God and Come Meet The Author of Life playing on loop for a decade while you’re going to sleep, you might want to get a few years’ distance from the albums, too. So by the time I began digitizing, over a dozen years later later, the lyrics struck me like it was my first time hearing them.
What I gleaned was that, even before my parents reached the 30-year mark in their marriage or ministry, they had provided a rough sketch of the beginning, middle, and end of their earthly journey in their lyrics.
For the abridged version, you’d listen to I Want To Make History With You, The Place Where I Get My Mail, Come Unto Me, At The Table, and It’s Just A Matter of Time. The expanded edition might include heartfelt struggles and desires woven into songs like There’s A Table Waiting, The Honeymoon Suite, and Make Me A Window.
My Parents. Very special people.
My parents are special people, and every now and then I realize just how special. Their hearts are on full display when they’re doing what they love best; creating songs that matter.
To give a little more backdrop to these two and their work, I’ve helped them re-launch their YouTube page. If you have a few minutes, please check out the new introductory video and consider subscribing to the new Youtube channel by clicking on my picture below. Hopefully this is the last IPM channel you’ll need to subscribe to.
Click on picture to take the 2:48 tour of the new IPM video archive and SUBSCRIBE
While we’re on the topic, what would you be interested in seeing more of on the new IPM Youtube channel? Alternately, what are some of your favorite IPM songs, and why? Please respond in the comments section below.
The song that still is so precious to me is “I Just Want to See You There.” Hmmm… That might not be the exact title.
Your mom did a concert at Jews for Jesus in the early to mid 80’s where she sang the song and provided cassette tapes with this one song on it for us to take home. She suggested there might be someone to play it for to help us express our hopes and prayers that they would meet the Author of Life as we have met and have come to know Him. My family is Jewish and not Believers yet so I took the tape to my pastor and told him I wanted this played at my funeral. I still tell people I want this song played at my funeral…more than any other song.
You are absolutely right, Dusty, your parents are truly special. I’ve been listening to their music off & on for about 32 years. The lyrics really touch my spirit deeply & I love the music they create. You’ve already named some of my favorite songs so I’ll add: Come Meet the Author of Life, Let Me Be Your Eyes, I Just Want to See You There, Come and Follow Me, What I Thought Was Me, thank them for me please!