A Beautiful New Gift Received

This weekend I went to help my mother move. She has few people to help her, and both she and my father are a bit on in years, and I felt obligated to help her for this reason (not that I didn't want to).

While she was deciding what she wanted to keep and what she wanted to get rid of, she gave me several items...mostly household, but one gift is very meaningful to me...

She gave me the first deer-skin hand drum she ever made.

My mom is the head of a women's native drumming group, and makes several drums (and even teaches on occasion). She's given drums to my other two sisters, but to be given her very first drum is a great honor.

It's pretty basic though. I'm thinking of maybe personalizing it, but not sure yet. I'll update as things go along.

I'm giddy with excitement. I plan on using it in meditation. I tend to tap my hands in random patterns when thinking, so I plan to do this using the drum in hopes this will help me slip into a meditative state more closely.
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**UPDATE**
Well, I tuned it, then tried using it this morning. I'm so not used to drumming lol. I looked up an Ojibwe drumming song I could start with. Now the song is stuck in my head lol. It's going to take some time to get used to, but it's definitely a work in progress. Kinda wish there was a Native drumming group in my area. Oh well lol.