Thanks To Michelle & Everyone Like Her

Hello! I've finally started one of these things! Josh would be so proud.

I never really had time to sit and create one but, HEY!, I saw all my friends and family with the sweetest, most interesting and fun postings that I had to join in on the fun. ...But their fun seems more interesting than what I could come up with, so maybe I will just cut and paste from someone else's and hope that no one notices (even though I don't have kids, live in Vegas, nor am I married or graduated...). Awe gee! What can I write about? Dating? No way! Those are horrible times for anyone. Although, I do admit that it's nice to have tons of delicious left-overs in my fridge from previous dinner dates, instead of resorting to my cheese and rice meals.

Okay, so I am going to UVU as a voice major. My teachers don't know whether I am a true Soprano because I have such a thick voice, but they are not sure if I am a Mezzo Soprano or Alto because I can go higher and lower than those particular ranges. When my teacher was saying these things to me the first time, I was in shock. Me? I have a huge range? I have a good voice? Whadu!? If you were to go back to my earlier years, you would understand. Just to give you an example, I ran into a fellow choir member from Palmdale about a week ago. She asked me what I was doing in school and I started laughing and told her that I am in the Master Opera program at UVU. She started laughing and said, "How did that happen? Before, we would try to get you to sing on pitch!" And we're not talking about some crazy aria, she was referring to "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." Yeah, I was horrible.

I remember singing as loud as I could because, in my mind, I would sound just like the amazing vocalists if I sang louder. People would look at me in pain as I sang flat and thin. One of my dear friends, Michelle Goodman, told me to never stop singing, dancing or playing my music. If I loved it and it made me happy, do it, even when people said that I sounded awful. That meant so much to me because I wasn't one of those people who was 'born with it.' I struggled and worked hard. I remember one choir practice, Michelle told me to play this challenging organ piece and to "Just do it." As much as I would mess up, she would just laugh and tell me to play it again and again and again.... Even when there seemed to be no improvement, I took Michelle's advice and never stopped. I took voice lessons for four years, studied a few summers at BYU and participated in every music group I had the opportunity to go to. I know I'm sounding like a 'Has-Been' but I'm retracing my steps and I'm proud of what I went through. I was asked to play for the President of the United States when I was 16 years old, I played for a time with the Junior Los Angeles Philharmonic and, at the end of the year, my teacher sent my tape to someone in Julliard and I was then told that, basically, I made the cut to be accepted into Julliard. None of those things lasted. I didn't take any of those things further and I am grateful. I wouldn't have met and been through what I have if I chose those things. I wont go into detail but I think that I did what was right.

Well, it was a special time when I was with Michelle during a couple of her last weeks alive. I remember sitting in front of her on the living room floor of their Colorado home and thanking her for telling me never to stop doing what I loved and for being another big sister for me. I don't think I will ever forget the smile that she gave me, especially considering how tired, weak and in pain she was. I gave her a hug and a kiss goodbye and told her I would see her later. I told her that, because of her, I would never stop. One month later, her husband Eric came to me and said, "Michelle asked that you play the organ for her one last time." When I was playing, I did all I could not to mess up, to play with the chords and the phrases and "just do it." I don't know how it works but I would like to think that Michelle was behind me, telling to keep going, transpose, modulate and make it more beautiful.

With all that being said, I guess Michelle is one reason why I don't stop, even when it seems that I'm not improving. When times were hard, when I got hurt or found myself alone, I turned to music and dance. I don't know what I would have done without that special solace in my life. I'm now in the Master Works Chorale and I am going to audition for one of the Messiah Solos. If Michelle were alive, she would tell me to "just do it." I've got a scholarship for clarinet and I am the Ward Music Chairman and Ward Choir Director. I just can't seem to get enough anymore. And I doubt that I will ever stop keepin' on, thanks to those who taught me to do so.

So for all you readers out there, I would say to always encourage people to work hard and to never stop doing what they love. You never know whose life you're going to save.