Love Conquers All!!!

Have you ever gone through a really tough time, and you thought you'd never escape the dark cloud that seemed to make its home just over your head? Well, I've been there just a couple times in my life. One time was just recently. I won't go through the entire explanation of what happened in order to get me to that place because that's not the point of this blog. Anyway, I felt lower than I had felt in a really long time...and even worse, I felt as if I were stuck there. But along the way there were a few individuals who spread out their arms and received me, listened to me, and comforted me with kind words and intentions that eventually restored my faith in humanity.
One of these friends called me on occasion just to check in and see how I was doing. I mean, my predicament was not life threatening to any degree. But she still called and seemed to sense the kind of lowness I was feeling. What makes it better is, she always makes me laugh because she has a way with words, and she really knows how to tell funny stories. She has a comical view of life, and I love that. I mean, if we can't laugh about some things we have no choice but to cry, or get angry.
Another one of my friends just simply reassured me that there are good people out there. And somehow her genuine love and sincerity helped me know that what she said is really true. And in that moment, I knew that there was still some goodness left in humanity.
Lastly, just recently I played at an open mic night at a place that just opened up in my city. I had never done anything like that before and I was incredibly nervous! But one of my friends, who was also playing, displayed a genuine concern for me and my anxiety. He asked me a few times if I was okay, then came to me after I played to tell me how much he liked my songs (even though I kind of bombed, especially on the first song). Also, another friend of mine rushed over to the venue from work, paid the $5, and hurried in just in time to see me play. She knew that I would feel much more comfortable if she were there.
I heard my grandfather tell a story just recently when I went down to visit him. It goes like this: a soldier got captured in the Vietnam War and was put in solitary confinement. He was there for two years without any human contact. Every day his task was to sweep the dust out of his tiny dark cell, through a small opening in the bottom of the door. One day after he had swept the dust out, the dust was swept back into the cell from the outside. He kept trying to sweep it out (with some frustration), but it kept coming back in. Then a hand appeared through the small hole. He wasn't quite sure what to do, and knew he would be in a world of trouble if he were seen making contact with a Vietnamese person. It was apparent that the person wanted him to take his hand. He finally shook the persons hand, and the Vietnamese man embraced his hand for a series of a few minutes. And this seemingly small act of love, this minute human contact, carried this man through three more years of solitary confinement until he was finally released. My whole point is that small acts of kindness can show people that love really does exist in this tainted world. And believe me, some of us doubt it sometimes...

Okay, so the other night I played a coffee house gig with my friend, Scott. I had been looking forward to it ever since he asked me to play with him. Actually, when I would go to hear him play at Borders it would always make me wish I could do the same thing. Anyway, he asked me to play with him at Borders. He actually got me a date to play there by myself too! So I was pretty excited to play with him there...

We only practiced once for this thing (the day of). Scott is pretty used to doing this, so its not really that big of a deal to him. So we ended up doing a few songs together, then some sets by ourselves. All in all I'd say it went well and it was a lot of fun. I was pretty nervous when I started my first set, but that all subsided after a few songs. I got all of my first mess ups out of the way too...now when I mess up it will seem like no big deal. :) Thanks Scottie for hookin' me up!!!