I found an old cassette tape labeled “Mom and Dad”.

After some searching I found a “Boom Box” that had the capacity to play cassette tapes.

The first side was Mom playing a little electronic organ. I can picture her as she only needed to hear the melody and was able to create the song. I remembered what song would come next and smiled as Dad joined her with “drums”. He did at one time have a couple of little drums, but he could create the effect with a wooden spoon and a hollow container from most any product.

Our childhood home was filled with tension, tears, laughter and music.

But, it was the other side of the tape that revealed the secret!!

This side begins with Mom telling about what she and Dad have been doing. The story goes something like this:

(For context you will need to know that Norwegian was the language of origin for both of them. English was their second language).

“Daddy and I have agreed that we would talk Norwegian to each other today. The first one to use an English word will need to give the other five cents. Of course, I used and English word first so I gave Daddy five pennies. But then, as we talked more, he used an English word so I got my five cents back”.