Meeting McLean. 2011.

The first time my mother asked me to learn a specific song I was in high school. She gave me this Michael McLean CD, and asked me to learn "Safe Harbors." I remember thinking how I hated the singer of the song, and how I would try to do it "so much better." I remember thinking, why? Why would my mother think that I needed to learn THIS song. At the time there was no specific performance on the horizon, so I was unmotivated to learn it, but she kept asking - how is that song going? Over the years as I have sung this song over and over, more and more it changes into one of my favorite songs to sing. It has set deep roots into my heart and I often think of it as I set sail into the storms of life.

I have performed this song many times - probably more than any other song I know. I sang it in high school. I sang it in one of my first vocal classes at BYU-Idaho. I sang it at a talent show when I worked for Disney World, and the management asked me to sing it at our Christmas party. I sang it at family events several times. I sang it several years in a row for the Christmas Nativity event in Goldendale. I have sung it hundreds of times for my very special mother, who cries every time - even when she knows it's not my best. I sang it for my grandparents, and both of them cried.

This song is one of the reasons I decided that I loved to perform - if you know me you know that I have developed...or maybe I always had it...but I have a terrible time with stage fright. At one point I was convinced that I'd made a huge mistake in choosing to perform because of this stage fright - but this song touched people's hearts. That is what i love most about performing.

So, on December 12th I'd planned to attend the Forgotten Carols for the first time. I'd heard great things, and I was actually extremely excited because of this connection I'd had with some of Michael McLean's music. It was the Monday after Mindy's wedding, so I was coming down from that excitement high as well - so the fact that I would get to see Michael McLean was just icing on the cake, and some of my students told me that he usually dropped by the choir room before the performance, so the likelihood that I would actually get to meet him was very high.

Well, I was helping out at the school, and we needed to go get supplies for the concessions. We were actually talking about Forgotten Carols while we were in Costco. As we were heading out the door, Cecil said, "speak of the devil" - mind you I really had no idea what Michael McLean even looked like...so I looked around and thought to myself, "what are you talking about?" He waved to another guy who was sitting in the Costco cafe area eating a hot dog. Then Michael McLean came and talked to us about some of his ideas for future shows, and about the show that night, and the whole time I was thinking to myself, "is this who I think it is?" Of course by the time he started talking about the show and such, I'd figured out who we were talking to...I wanted to thank him for a song that changed my life...and guided some of the major decisions that I'd made...and helped me to (in a very small way) change the lives of others, but I knew that turning all star struck...would probably be a bad thing...strike that - it's definitely not professional...so I didn't.

I did, however on the way out have a geek moment - and said to Cecil, "we just talked with Michael McLean - that...was Michael McLean!" haha. Now that I look back, I really do feel like a geek.

Michael did come and say "Hi" to the choir before the performance, but it was brief, and not as personal as the meeting in Costco.

I went to the show, and watched from the audience as the story unfolded of the Forgotten Carols...and something struck me - at that moment I was not so excited about seeing Michael as I was about seeing my choir students perform onstage in this production. My students have taught me so much, but most of all they have helped me reconfirm that my decision to be a music teacher was the right one - a decision I made because of the opportunities that came from a song my mother asked me to learn. I have learned that being a teacher sometimes means that part of my job is providing a safe harbor - a safe environment away from the storms of life, in which students can feel free to learn and grow and express life through music, and learn that they can touch the lives of others. I love being a music teacher - while sometimes it might be hard, it is always worth it.