A Month of Thanks: Day 24

I am thankful for Fr. Drew and St. Laurence. I love coming home, and really that Parish is my home. It was a special treat that Fr. Drew celebrated the Mass I went to this morning, and I got to sing with the choir, which I miss so much. Larry even played my favorite song before communion, not for me, just a happy accident. It is so nice to go where you haven't been in a while and feel so welcomed and loved. I know no matter where I live, St. Laurence will always be my parish. 

A Month of Thanks: Day 18

I am thankful to the talents God has given me, especially singing. Singing makes me feel really good, and I try to use that talent to give him Glory, although I have no outlet for that at the moment. But, for the next two Sundays I get to sing with my St. Laurence Church choir and I couldn't be more excited. I miss singing in the choir at Mass. I sing at Mass, but it is different.

A Month of Thanks: Day 14

I am so thankful for music. The way it moves and stirs the soul. The way it comforts and afflicts. I was just watching Last week's episode of Glee and the version of Katy Perry's "Wide Awake" they sang moved me to tears. The power of music. It truly is amazing.

Seven years ago a bad case of acid re-flux/heartburn, cause me to get pre-nodes on my vocal chords, and I was on voice rest for three months. Not being able to sing, and it actually hurting for me to sing or talk was so difficult to endure. Singing is a large part of my worship. Like Saint Augustine Said, when you sing, you pray twice. During this time I could not fully participate at Mass because I could not sing, or say the responses, and it was heart breaking for me. I remember it was getting close to Christmas, and I was so upset that I did not think I'd be able to sing at Christmas Eve Mass that I was in tears. As it happened I was able to sing, I had to skip the Messiah before Mass which was a sacrifice in its own right, but I was able to sing at Mass and it was amazing.

Right now I have no where to sing, well besides when I am home alone (or think I am anyway) and I belt out a line or two, usually relating to what I am feeling. I don't know where I would be without music.

And as it inspired my thankful post today, here is "Wide Awake:"

A Month of Thanks: Day 12

I am thankful for God, who guides my days and provides light in the darkness. Being a child of God is fundamental to my identity. I am working on bridging the gap between my studies in theology and living the faith, but sometimes it is hard to move from theory to practice. I am grateful that he has lead me to where I am today, and I pray He continues to lead and I continue to have to courage to follow and obey wherever I am asked to go.

"You never said it would be easy. You only said I would not go alone."

Day 30 - Ave Verum Corpus

Day 30- Your favorite song.

Mozart's Ave Verum Corpus is my absolute favorite song.  I have other more temporary favorites, but this has been my favorite for like 11 years now.  So beautiful.  The Ave Verum Corpus, during the middle ages was sung or recited during the Consecration of the Eucharist.  This is Mozart's arrangement of the hymn.

Day 15 - Obvious Things

Day 15- Put your iPod on shuffle: First 10 songs that play


"I Might Get Over You" by Kenny Chesney
"She's Got It All" by Kenny Chesney
"She Likes it in the Morning" by Clay Walker
"I Don't Know Anything" by Mad Season
"Do the Evolution" by Pearl Jam
"Wishlist" by Pearl Jam
"Love Remains the Same" by Gavin Rossdale
"Just to See You Smile" by Tim McGraw
"Dyslexic Heart" by Paul Westerberg
"Jeremy" by Pearl Jam


I feel like this is a bad sampling of my music.  Not very inclusive, so here are some more to make up for the repeated artists.


"Rhythm of Love" by Plain White T's
"Life Ain't Always Beautiful" by Gary Allen
"Johnny and June" by Heidi Newfield
"All the Small Things" by Blink 182
"Machinehead" by Bush
"Leave Atlanta" by Pilot Radio
"Another Saturday Night" by Cat Stevens
"Bubbly" by Colbie Caillat
"Hey There Delilah" by Plain White T's
"Graduate" by Third Eye Blind


This second set is more like what I typically listen to, especially these past few weeks.  :)

Day 10 - I Sing

Day 10- Songs you listen to when you are Happy, Sad, Bored, Hyped, Mad


These change daily, but for today we'll go with the following . . . 




Happy: "That's How You Know" from Enchanted



Sad: "Broken" by LifeHouse





Bored: "Save Me San Francisco" by Train






Mad: "Jeremy" by Pearl Jam (well just about anything off of "Ten" or "Vs.")

Day 7 - The Day the Music Died

Day 07- A picture of someone/something that has the biggest impact on you


I've thought a lot about this the past few hours, trying to decide if I wanted a positive or negative impact, and which person I should choose, and if I choose someone who is that going to offend.  That is a lot of pressure for a blog post.  So I am taking the easy way out and choosing something to write about.  If you know me, the object of my choice probably won't come as a surprise.  So without further ado, I give you the thing that has most impacted my life . . . . 

For those that don't get the picture, music.  I am pretty sure music has always been a part of my life. One of my earliest memories of music is from sometime during second grade.  For whatever reason, one night, I was allowed to sleep in the family room, and in the morning, I was woken up by someone, probably Dad, blasting "Another One Bites the Dust" by Queen on the stereo.  What a way to wake up.

I remember music classes in elementary school, they were mostly singing, but in first grade I learned to play violin, but I didn't play the whole year.  I remember being kind of good.  I am not sure if I actually was or not.  Then I was in the school choir in fourth and fifth grade.  In sixth grade, I played the flute, I sucked, but mostly because I never practiced.  Then I just kind of experienced music for a while.  I didn't really play or make any most of the time.  

In high school, our church started their youth Mass, which eventually became Life Teen, so I joined that when I was a junior, and I have been singing at St Laurence ever since.  The one year I was at SFA, I spent my first semester as a music major, that was hard. I had no formal training, and I couldn't really sight read, so I was lost, plus it wasn't what I really wanted to do, so I quit, but my favorite class at SFA was choir.  The worst was the seminar part of our voice lessons, they called it Studio, so all of a particular voice teachers students belonged to his studio, and once a week we had to sing for them.  That wasn't the worst part, the worst part was what we called Big Studio, all the vocal majors in the large music hall, and the "final" for your voice lesson was that you had to sing at least once at Big Studio.  Doesn't seem like that should be a problem, but that was my most terrifying experience ever.  All of those people thought they themselves were the reason singing existed, that they were God's gift to music.  I am not sure I have ever felt so vulnerable or exposed, but I made it through and my voice teacher complimented me on how my singing surprised him.  He was a jerk and that was my first compliment from him ever at the end of the semester.  I am pretty sure he expected me to tank.

Anyway, I left SFA and started at UST, but I didn't join the choir because I really couldn't afford to spend that much money for the tuition to take the course.  So I just went back to the Life Teen Group at St Laurence, which I still sang with if I happened to be in town on Sunday night.  December of 2000, the "traditional" choir was going to do a concert of the Messiah, and Mary invited all the choirs to join if they wanted to.  I loved the Messiah, I'd learned it the previous year, and so I went to sing it with them.  I was the only one from another choir to go.  I loved it, and several people in that choir asked me a few times to come sing with them.  Which I did, in January 2001, so I have been in that group for 10 years.

I first realized how much music meant to me in 2006, when I was put on vocal rest for 3 months.  I got sick, and then I noticed for a few weeks after that my throat was irritated, and my voice wasn't right.  So I went to the doctor and he put me on 2 weeks voice rest and told me to come back.  It didn't help.  So I had to do more voice rest, and go to an ENT that specialized in the vocal chords.  He's one of the best there is for and has treated many famous singers.  So he did Microlaryngoscopy which means he stuck a camera down my throat and took a video of me singing and speaking.  Turned out I had prenodes on my vocal chords, which meant more voice rest.  He told me I couldn't sing for another month, and then we'd see what the next step would be.  

This was when I realized how much I loved music because I would go to Mass and sit in the congregation and not be allowed to sing with everyone.  I had to stop going to Life Teen Mass during that time, it was too hard not to sing, and even at the morning Mass I went to, it was hard not to sing.  I realized how big a part of my worship singing was and how deprived I felt without it.  I remember one Sunday after Mass, probably around Thanksgiving, I was talking (sort of, I was on voice rest) with Mary, and I started to cry because I didn't think I'd be OK to sing for Christmas. 

I am realizing more and more after this, just how much music means to me.  People say music is my life or music is life, but I don't think that adequately explains it.

Lyrics (Part I)

Here are some of my favorite song lyrics.  I wouldn't be surprised if I do this more often. :)

"It's not that you're attractive/ but, oh, my heart grew active/ When you came into view" -I've Got a Crush on You

"I'd even be glad, just to be sad, thinking of you." - It Had to be You

"I get a kick though it's clear to see you obviously do not adore me." -I Get a Kick Out of You

"Did I say that I need you?/ Did I say that I want you?/ Oh, if I didn't I'm a fool you see/ No one knows this more than me/ As I come clean" -Just Breathe by Pearl Jam
"And I feel just like I'm living someone else's life. It's like I just stepped outside when everything was going right . . . this was not your dream, but you always believed in me." -Home

"What am I supposed to do when the best part of me was always you,/ And what am I supposed to say when I'm all choked up that you're ok" - Break Even by The Script