If nothing else, the end is what I was getting to. The point. Skip ahead if you must.
For three years, three summers, I was a part of this astounding organization. No, not just an organization, but a family. Friendships and families spawned from it. Hell, people met, fell in love, and got married thanks to that place. I should know, I have two of the best parents in the world thanks to the 1981 youth choir, and because of it, my sisters. My parents were not alone in finding love. Countless others shared that gift. I believe I have made unbreakable bonds in my three rounds at the Ohio State Fair.
I may not have been the most popular person, but the ones who touched my heart, and who have allowed me to touch theirs aswell, have been with me through loads. Hell, I was even fortunate enough to be crammed in the same school with some of them. The way they have grown, helped me grow, and allowed me to help them in my own way has been a gift I could not change for all the gold, chocolate torte, or even music in the world.
Which is funny, since that's what brought us together in the first place.
18 days
64 songs
104 performances
120 miles.
Suddenly the "walk 500 miles doesn't seem so ridiculous...
"Keepers of the Light
Hand in Hand
The Road Home
Wow, before high school, I attended the state fair and followed the choir around on Alumni Day like it was a religion... The fact that Mom and David dragged me there every year was big part too, once in a while a tantrum on the horizon. Once I heard that choir though, it didn't matter. It did not matter that I had missed someone's pool party, that I wasn't in Findlay with my dad and friends, that I was burned to the point of raw. The music they made was beautiful. Anyone could see this was something words could not adequately describe.
Then at the end of sophomore year, I received my acceptance letter. Apprehension leaking from every pore, for fear of year two of rejection (ehh...I was on the very long waiting list the summer before... stupid inexperience, first soprano voice, and late send in.)It was a "Congratulations!"Then came the music packet.Hogwarts trunk packed.Off to "choir bootcamp"When I got there, EVERYONE was hugging.Slightly unnerving.
No time to waste though, had to unpack and sign in. 18 days had begun. 18 days of love, music, and new understanding. I guess you can blame my overly friendly and affectionate demeanor from the choir.
Granted my third year was cut short, the fact I was able to return at all was amazing. Though that year was tougher that most, and I was a baby about it, I'll admit, It didn't matter, I was back. Then, as soon as it had began, waltzing into my life, it was over. Not that I'm going to let it leave anytime soon. My first Alumni Day was a real eye opener, and afterward, I was conflicted. Unsure whether sadness or joy was the stronger emotion.
Youth Choir was something I could no longer be in anymore. Never again could I be a apart of the 200 plus singers, 18 days out of the year. But, I had been.
I finally realized, after 19 long years of denial, strongest this past year, that the love I had been running away from was there. It didn't matter whether romantic love or that between two good friends, whether choir members, staff members, C.I.T., or a pleasant mix. Love shouldn't be defined by how it's shared.
Shouldn't be measured by it's worth, as I once tried to do on a light BG spring day studying for my IPC final.
If I had learned anything from the AOSFYC "experience," it is that love was there. People are imperfect. Led by some god or by their own will, we have this uncanny ability to feel that love. Share it, let it grow, manifest in different ways.Though we may not be perfect, love is.
And to all those who have dealt with my "love is stupid and doesn't exist" ALL. LAST. YEAR. I apologize. And I promised you helped too,choir or not.Thank you Youth Choir. Sorry I've been so stubborn. See you next year.
