Music for Meg on her birthday

Meg in 2016

My daughter, Meg’s birthday is coming up on April 6th. I am posting this early because I will be in Chicago officiating at my brother, Bill’s funeral that day.

New born Meg

Meggie is my third child. From the time she was born, she was strong, independent, smart as a whip, and compassionate. Ruthie’s pregnancies were largely uneventful, but it was when she gave birth to our children that things got complicated. The night before Meg’s birth, Ruth started to hemorrhage. We got her to the hospital and discovered that Meg was a partial placenta previa. We didn’t know whether Ruth would have an emergency c-section or not. Our doctor was on the phone throughout the night with a specialist from Children’s Hospital. It was a very long night and fortunately Meg was delivered safely late afternoon, April 6th.

Meg at 6 months

The one quality of Meg that I have always felt present in her is compassion. I remember Meg, about 4 years old, sitting on my lap and watching the Disney cartoon movie, Dumbo. When it got to the part of the movie where Dumbo’s mother is imprisoned in a cage, and baby Dumbo is mourning the loss of his mother. Dumbo’s mother sings the song, “Baby, Now Don’t You Cry.” Poor Meg. She buried her face in my shoulder and sobbed her heart out. Of course, as we know, things eventually get better for Dumbo and for his mother in the movie. However, to this very day, I still tear up whenever I think of that one moment Meggie and I shared.

Meggie around 3 years of age.

 In high school, Meg sang in the regional competitions, I was so honored that the song she sang for the judges was the one I composed for my ordination, “Abba, Yeshua, Ruah.” I also had the honor of  accompanying her on the piano. As I recall, Meg received an “excellent” score for her singing.

Meg’s high school graduation picture.
Meg’s daughters’, Sydney and Alyssa (hanging on to their mom).

In some ways, Meg and I are very similar. We have a similar sense of humor (a wee bit twisted), cynicism, joints (Meg and I both have what my Aunt Mary Jernstrom refers to as the “Swedish” joints), heart problems (we both have had ablations for aventricular taca cardia), and so on. Meg keeps observing what is happening to me physically so that she can ward off some of the effects of the negative genes she inherited from me. However, Meg possesses many of Ruth’s wonderful qualities, and those are so numerous they are hard to list.

Meg arriving home from the hospital.

In 2016, I decided that on my birthday I was going to gift each of my children with a song. Below is the song I composed for Meg. Surprisingly, the composing went very quickly and smoothly except for the Coda (the ending) of the songs. I spent 6 hours over two days composing that Coda. I must have tossed out 8 different endings before I finally got the Coda I wanted. Here is the song for you my beautiful Meg. Your compassionate heart, your wry and raunchy sense of humor, and your dedication to those you love and serve, this song was well worth all the work. (And, incidentally, Meg, with some practice, you will be able to play this.)

For Meg Wagner, Psalm Offering 10 Opus 6 (c) 2016, Robert Charles Wagner. All rights reserved.

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Deacon Bob

I am a composer, performer, poet, educator, spiritual director, and permanent deacon of the Catholic Church. I just recently retired after 42 years of full-time ministry in the Catholic Church. I continue to serve in the Church part-time. I have been blessed to be united in marriage to my bride, Ruth, since 1974. I am father to four wonderful adult children, and grandfather to five equally wonderful grandchildren. In my lifetime, I have received a B.A. in Music (UST), M.A. in Pastoral Studies (St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity, UST), Certified Spiritual Director. Ordained to the Permanent Diaconate for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, in 1991. Composer, musician, author, poet, educator. The Gospels drive my political choices, hence, leading me toward a more liberal, other-centered politics rather than conservative politics. The great commandment of Jesus to love one another as he has loved us, as well as the criteria he gives in Matthew 25 by which we are to be judged at the end of time directs my actions and thoughts.

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