Ava sang to remind them of what was important – the things that mattered in their lives. She sang about the love of hearth and home, the fire at night in the fireplace, dinner warm on the table, a caring wife and hard-working husband who relied on each other for everything, of babies still in their cradles, toddlers climbing on knees wanting to be cuddled, of teenage boys and girls helping their parents run the homestead. She sang of warm summers and cozy winters with lots of heavy blankets, of harmony and love, well-being and gratitude for the harvest - for the bounty by which they all lived. She sang of the joy of a new life, the births of their children, the enduring love in the twilight of old age between a man and his wife - the years behind them like the building blocks of an enormous castle.
~ Mina Marial Nicoli
