Raffi, Heather and I want YOU to Vote on May 2nd.

Democracy must be something more than *three wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.   James Bovard

This blog goes all the way back to 1979, when my babies Heather and Kathy were only little. We had just moved back to Toronto from Powassan, a small town just south of North Bay. (It's snowing up there today. ) When we lived in Powassan, baby Heather and her sister Kathy went to Friendly Kiddies Nursery School. That was when they first started listening to Raffi.

Do you remember Raffi? He sang a plethora of children's songs and Heather and her sister Kathy spent their young childhood singing and dancing to the songs of Raffi. We listened on records back then. We had two Raffi thirty three and a thirds.

Altogether, there were 35 songs on these two albums. Nineteen on the first album and sixteen on the second album.  We shared our recordings with the nursery school and they shared theirs with us.  Heather and Kathy LOVED these songs.  Favourites were, "Five Green and Speckled Frogs", "Shake My Sillies Out", "Wheels on the Bus" and "Robin in the Rain".

You can find a selection of Raffi songs if you want to listen, on you tube here

After we moved back to Toronto, we lived uptown at Yonge and Bloor in the Uof T married students residences,  affordable housing. Barry got his masters and I worked at Pizza, Pizza (nights) to help support the family. Times were tight, but we persevered. Our two girls started going to a full day nursery school programme at St. Andrew's Church, just down the street from where we lived. And one day, Raffi came to visit that nursery school!  Baby Heather was "awestruck"!  Raffi invited her over to sit on his lap while he sang her one of his new songs that we didn't know.  It was a memorable moment for all of us, even though there was no picture taking allowed. 

From there, Raffi books came out with pictures and words to all of his songs. You could sing the songs while reading the books. Now, Kathy's daughter Hailey has "The Wheels on the Bus" and we were singing it all together just a couple of weeks ago.  My all time Raffi favorite song will always be "Baby Beluga".  I still have a hard cover copy of that song book. It is worn and has been well used. It is missing a page, but it is a very loved book!  The money Raffi got from producing that song, went to help the plight of the Beluga Whales in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. They were all dying of pollution and cancer, even back in the 1980's and 1990's. Raffi is an inspiration to people who want to sing meaningful songs for children, for people who care about our earth and for people who care about keeping a sense of community in their neighborhoods. 

So what did I find on Heather's facebook page this morning?

Today, Raffi has a message for all of the Canadians who grew up listening to his songs. He wants all of you to "Get Out and Vote on May 2nd".  He is not saying he supports any particular party, he just wants you to vote. If you want to keep a democracy in Canada, voting is important. Grown-up Heather and I think voting is important too.

Even though most Canadians say they are voting for one of the *three wolves, my vote is going with the sheep.                        * the original quote had two wolves