Connections at Alumni Weekend
Summer of 1993, I helped out with the praise team at camp meeting for the Florida Conference Youth Department. It was an honor and great joy to be part of such a genuine production and talented team of musicians praising God. Over the years, I’ve stepped away from the mic and have only shared my love of music with family at home. In a way, time and trauma have silenced my voice. I never felt my music meant that much to anyone but me in my teen years, so I left it behind in adulthood.
This past weekend, I saw my BFF from high school for the first time in 30 years. What a joyous and strangely healing occasion! As we delved into catching up, THE VERY FIRST THING he asked was, “Are you still doing your music?” The question caught me off guard. What music? I hadn’t seen him in three decades. Then it hit me. High school. To be honest, music hasn’t played the same role in my life in the past thirty years as it did when I volunteered for vespers, church services, and talent shows in academy. I started to say no until I remembered I had just finished writing a song June 2024, and Gale Jones Murphy had helped add a beautiful accompaniment track to it. I smiled and nodded. “Yeah. I guess I’m still doing music.”
Later, more details came about as to why I had been remembered for my music. “You always had this big smile and a twinkle in your eye when you talked about music. I am glad you are expressing yourself with it. It takes a lot to put a creation out there and have people critique it and be inspired by it. I am just glad to hear you are still with it.”
“A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words.” – C.S. Lewis Until Friday night, I didn’t even know something was missing. Wow!! What a special alumni weekend!
