MY FRONT ROW

Last night I played a major role in the fashion show at the sorority fall salad supper. I was a spider...as in the itsy bitsy spider. I, with Spout, Rain and Sun, preformed a fantastic rendition of "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" in front a large group of darling older ladies. I have been teaching BB this song all weekend so I was quite good, thank you very much.

When I read this* today, my life felt so big. My life is so big. Not to everyone, I realize but to me, my family and those who love me....it's huge. Maybe I spent Monday night covered in homemade spider legs at the Church of The Nazarene in Dumas, Texas. Maybe I'm no Neil Diamond but as I picture myself on stage looking out upon my front row, I see that every seat is taken. There's Justin and BB and my parents and Charles and Mattie and the list goes on. They're all waving and clapping and cheering and doing the Itsy Bitsy Spider.

*An excerpt from my mother's blog "Pura Vida" after seeing Neil Diamond this weekend:

Well…Holly Holy!

Holly Holy…is the way we he started out his concert. Our seats were just above the stage and far enough behind him to watch him interact with the fans that were front row- up close- personal-DE-VO-TED. We blended in with the crowd around us…some 70+, some young like Brian who didn’t have a clue who ND was, and more than likely got dragged there by some insistent person such as myself and BFF Denise. But somewhere during the concert, I began to realize what an incredible.INCREDIBLE, and I do mean INCREDIBLE…gift this man had been given and how at the age of 67, he was still sharing it. "I am a man of faith…I am a man of God…I am a man of song…" and it hit me…

We all have been filled with an incredible gift. We all have a stage that rotates. We all have a back up band. We all have an audience and our very own sphere of influence. We all have fans who walk 3 miles in 3-inch heels to see us. We all have those who go without supper to come listen to us instead.

We all have those who have paid a huge price to sit on our front row.

What do we do with our gift however humble it may be? How do we use it to reach out to those reaching out to us? Those who will benefit from our integrity. Our dance. Our song. Our life. What music do we write each day of our lives that plays a message loud and clear to those who are placed in our path by God’s divine and perfect plan? What will those people walk away from our concert knowing for certain?

I may not be Neil Diamond and after his concert believe there are none like him…but I left being significantly touched by a simple man from Brooklyn, who has spent a lifetime giving others incredible joy, doing a thing that comes easy for him…

"…And I can, yes I can be a man of peace

Plant it like a tiny seed

It grows a little when you give

And gives you back when you're in need …"