Teach Me Anna (Original Song about Grief)

This song is called “Teach me Anna,” inspired by Anna the prophetess. Her story flashes by in just 3 verses in Luke, but I’ve learned a lot thinking about what her life must have been like. She got married, probably very young, and had her husband for only 7 years before he died. She was probably only in her 20s. I think about how tragic that must have been for her, and yet she spent the rest of her life at the temple, worshiping God and waiting for the Messiah, for something like up to 70 years. For me, one of the things that breaks my heart the most about losing my mom is that, in this life, I may have to live longer without her than I got to live with her. That’s something Anna certainly had to face with someone she loved, too. So I wrote this song, inspired by the faith of Anna, and by the faith of my mom, about trying to cope with the feeling of despair at the very moment of bereavement. It was special for me to be able to incorporate some of my mom’s brave last words into the lyrics.