Monday, July 27, 2009

my little brush with fame

Last night we went to a concert at Crossroads, the church in which my school is located. Nicol Sponberg (formerly with Selah, now recording on her own) and Twila Paris (whom I have loved for as long as I can remember) were there. Both of them are amazing vocalists, sing the way I've only dreamed of singing, and if I could play the piano half as good as Twila, I'd be totally happy the rest of my days. Seriously. She can play better with her eyes closed than I can with mine open. And she doesn't need music.
Twila sang my all-time favorite song of hers, How Beautiful. I can still remember the first time I heard that song. It was in Council Hall at Word of Life, some world famous Word of Life Collegian (whose name slips my mind) sang it for Sunday services. I thought then, "Could there ever be a more pretty song than that?" I love Twila's music so much, that when I played the piano for Phil the first time (over the phone, of course) I played Sanctuary. That very same song was part of our wedding prelude music and is also on our CD favors, which some of you out there in blogland may still happen to have. . . if you haven't donated it to the Goodwill yet.

Nicol sang with tracks. Twila played for herself, had a guy on percussion, a violinist, and Scott Dente' on guitar. If you are an Out of the Grey fan (his wife Christine is an amazing singer too), then you will know just how good that man is with a pick. Ahhh. . . I was in music heaven.

And internet. . . (insert catchy game show tune here) I got to meet Nicol Sponberg!!! And since I had connections with the lady taking pictures, I've got proof.
Wow! What a lovely person with an incredible testimony. I could listen to her sing all day. And sometimes I do. If you're ever cleaning your house and you want some good music, I've got her down on my playlist at the bottom of my blog. You'll want to hear her sing Wonderful, Merciful Savior. I LOVE that song!

They ran out of Twila CDs, so I didn't get to meet her. But she was only a few feet away and I admired her from nearby.

And while we were waiting in line, I was pleasantly surprised by the mother of one of my students I had four years ago. She came up and said, "I thought that was you! I just had to come over and thank you again for being such a wonderful teacher and influence on Sarah's life. It was a really hard year and she got in trouble all the time, but it was so good. She still talks about the things you taught her and she has a love of literature because of you." It was very sweet and, if you don't mind me saying it, a nice little boost to the ol' ego. Because sometimes, as a teacher, you wonder if what you're doing really makes a difference. So it's nice to know that it does.

~photos courtesy of Michelle Corbin, whose son, Levi, I will have in my class this year :)

3 comments:

Natalie said...

How much fun! Twila looks amazing. Remember when Bae was born you got me the Lullaby CD that such pretty piano music.

MISS U!

Dawn said...

I still have my wedding favor CD!

Kellie said...

That is awesome!! I love Nicol, too. I listen to my Selah CD's all of the time. And, yes, Wonderful, Merciful Savior is a favorite of mine. Great that you got to go and meet them... at least partly for Twila. lol :)

That is nice for the former parent to say that to you. It definitely gives a needed boost....