AOC 2007

Where to begin? I'll begin where I feel the need to begin. The beginning, which actually wasn't the official beginning, but it was my beginning, because that's when I left my normal life for 3 days and entered a dfferent life, still mine, but different in a good way.

West Side Story at HD was pretty much amazing... I had 3 friends who were in it, plus a few people I vaguely know. I was there with some other friends and because we weren't a loud obnoxious big grade-school group, we got front row seats, which was pretty nice in itself.

So then we went to Kathleen's to hang out til AOC. Somewhere around 6pm we decided that maybe we needed food and maybe we should go out and get some. So we went to the Egg and I and got some food and then we went to AOC.

And that was really the proper beginning. It's like a current, I was just swept up in all of it. My friends, singing, doing activities. I had a way awesome group. Art and Candice were amazing leaders. We had some really good discussions on "image", in fact, so good, we went overtime all three devotion times.

"You smell good".

Singing is amazing. Until you lose your voice...and I did just that. WOOT. So at Coffeehouse I pulled it off, but when I woke up Saturday morning...my voice wasn't there. After warm-ups I talked to Sonia and officially became a tenor. Yes I did. I went from high soprano to tenor in 24 hours, pretty impressive I think. So tenor is really nice. I will never look at tenors again in the same way. Men's sectionals were actually fun. It probably had something to do with the fact that Bekah and Michelle2 were there as well. Michelle G was a huge help in helping me learn the tenor line in roughly 8 hours. So yes, I admit it, I enjoyed being a tenor and if I ever lose my voice again, I'm going there first.

Friends are even more amazing. And when you lose your voice, they're still amazing. I don't really know what to say, except how much I felt included and loved and cared for. I totally would not have made it through Saturday if it weren't for some people constantly checking up on me and encouraging me when I felt so terrible and frustrated with myself, because honestly, I was feeling really down about feeling so terrible and being voiceless.

Some people who were praticularly a huge encouragement to me were Tala, thank you for your Halls and your hugs! Hannah, thank you for asking about how I was doing and your hugs. Erik (J), thank you for caring and telling me I could do it, it helped a lot. Michelle (G), thank you for your prayers, back rubs and hugs. Jenn (G), thank you for telling me not to talk to you, and instead just hugged me every time you saw me. Katie, thank you for telling me to "give me (you) a hug" every time I saw you. Luke, thank you for caring about my voice and telling me I shouldn't talk, no matter how difficult it is for me not to talk. (IT IS!!!) Janelle, thank you for your smiles in practices. Brittni, thank you for getting frustrated with me for talking and for inviting me to colour when I was totally drained. In a very different way, it was restoring...who knew colouring could be restoring? Ryan, thank you for doing that dance for me, it really lifted my spirits. Jordan, thank you for your encouraging words. Kimberly (F), thank you for sympathizing with me. Amanda, thank you for caring about my voice. Keith, thank you for your hugs and smiles. Sarah, I don't know if I should thank you for telling me I sound like a gorilla with no voice, but thank you for caring. Jon (V) Thank you for telling me I looked nice, even when I felt so terrible. Just one..or maybe sixteen example(s) of how much people care. See how many people I've listed? And there's probably even more that just smiled at me or said something encouraging that helped keep me going. My homeschool friends rock my world.

I have realized that I wasn't there to make singing my top priority. I was most importantly there, to love and be loved, hang out and have a great time. And know that I am made in God's image. May I strive to image Him in every part of my life.

This is the end for now.
I may add other things later if I feel compelled to do so.

I knew I loved to talk, but I didn't realize how much I loved it, and rely on speech til this weekend. Sometimes though, words aren't needed.