A Week of Songs

That's a big gift when people say to you that a song helped them or brought them to some place in their life where they needed to be.  ~ Lenny Kavitz

 

 

The National Quartet Convention is in Louisville this week. The Patriot Quartet, the group my husband sings bass with, will be singing on a showcase Monday afternoon, so I have worked it out to go listen. At least I hope I’ve worked it out. My mother is not doing very well right now. We had a really odd night, but then oddness is part of dementia. Oddness and sadness and all the patience one can gather. So perhaps tomorrow if I get to go hear some of the songs the gospel groups will be sharing, I’ll get that gift of a song that will bring me to a place I need to be. A place of continuing patience and a little touch of wisdom. When you’re dealing with someone with confused thinking, you feel like if you could just find the right answer, then maybe things would be easier. But I’m not sure there is a right answer.
 

The Patriots are going to be singing their new radio release “On the Right Road Now” and a patriotic song “One Nation Under God.” At least I think that’s the plan. Then they will be meeting and greeting people in the Exhibition Hall. I enjoy meeting people at their booth and will have my books for anybody who might want to get an autographed copy. Last year I met a couple from Scotland and they went home with a heavier suitcase because they packed some of my books into it. It was fun talking to them. It’s fun talking to everyone who comes by, and especially fun when they are like me and love books. Of course they wouldn’t be at the Quartet Convention if they didn’t love Gospel music.
 

We’ve been going to the Quartet Convention for years now. For years, we went as fans. Well, Darrell was the big fan. I went along for the ride and usually ended up liking some of the songs. The songs that speak to me are generally ones with words that I relate to. If they also have a great melody, that’s a plus, but it’s the words that mean the most to me. Sometimes just a phrase in a song will touch my heart. The Patriots sing one “I Can Feel the Touch of His Hand” that borrows a lot of the beautiful ideas of the 23^rd Psalm and I love the line “surely goodness and mercy will follow me.” It’s a line that other people respond to also, because sometimes they will come to the product table and ask for that “goodness and mercy” song. That’s one song I never get tired of hearing.

 

It’s interesting how people are touched by different songs. Songs that I don’t like all that much are often favorites of other people. I suppose that's true with books too. Actually, there’s no supposing to it. You can tell that's so by reading the reviews on Amazon or other sites where readers leave their thoughts on books. One person might love a story and give it many stars and great words while another person will totally pan the same story and think it’s awful. That’s what makes the world go around and opens the publishing door for many different types of writers. Thank goodness. Who would want to have only one kind of book or one type of song? That’s why we say “different strokes for different folks” or “to each his own.” 

 

I’m just glad some of you like the words I come up with. So thanks for reading, and if you happen to be at the Quartet Convention this week, come by the Patriots booth in the Exhibition Hall this week and say hello to me or Darrell. One of us will probably be there.