PrayerSong

It was a perfect blend right from the beginning. Unusual for three women not to have vocal conflicts! Rare that we come from such different paths, but resonate in sympathy to the same music, the same ideals, the same musical ideology.

We read through song after song from my foray into the octavo archives in Illinois, each one presenting its own charms and challenges. I'm sure for them it was a normal rehearsal, one of many activities to be involved in. I worry that I am asking too much of them, that I will cause them to burn out before we barely get started.

Inside, my tummy was tingling (and not from the flu pains either). At long long last this dream that I have dreamt for the past three or four years had taken on a reality heretofore unknown. Sounds. Plans. A date for first performance.

Oh, we have work to do, no doubt about that. Especially me. They are both ahead of me for musicianship skills and I will be working hard to carry my part, one I have not sung for decades! And right where I belong on second soprano.

Yes, I will be auditioning for more singers. Yes, we will get more dates. Yes, I am meeting next week with one of the guys from Touch of Brass to talk about a service this spring, and with my friend the recording engineer about capturing our new found sound digitally - perhaps even linking to our new website so cancer patients can download and listen.

O, I can almost touch it, this reality. I am so excited. Not for having a dream come true, but for what I hope it will bring to cancer patients. That little something extra to hang onto in the darkness of the night, in the discouragement of the doctor's pronouncement that the darn stuff has returned, a ray of hope when things look bleak, a touch of comfort in a lonely hour.

So, I memorize. I type up the words. I prepare the gig list. I pray. It is becoming more and more real. At last. At last.