My car and I traveled 2,023 miles over spring break. We drove to Overland Park, KS; Wheaton, IL; Evanston, IL; St. Charles, IL; Overland Park KS; Wichita, KS; Tulsa, OK; Wichita, KS; Emporia, KS; and finally Wichita, KS. Plus any amount of driving within each of those cities.
Besides driving, I got to spend time with old friends, visit a potential grad school and take a voice lesson with a teacher I have the most respect for, meet a friend's family and fall in love with them, spend some time with God, hang out with Mom; and participate in and promptly lose a voice competition.
The voice lesson with Karen Brunssen was wonderful. I walked in, we chatted for a bit, and then started singing. Allow me to summarize what I heard from her: "Fix this. Nope. Pure vowels. You sound like a hick from Kansas. Nope. Your inner muscles don't work enough. NOPE. Sing through this straw. Still nope. A!!! How many times do I have to say nope? Resonance. Higher hump of the tongue. That was okay. I lied; nope. That's all the time we have. I really loved working with you. Seriously, I thoroughly enjoyed it. You have a great voice, and you are scholarship material anywhere you apply"............ Huh? I just got my butt handed to me, thought you hated me, and I'm scholarship material? Whatever. I'll take what I can get. Truly, the last time I had an experience like that was my first lesson with Dr. Crum. "Oh, I remember you; you don't know how to breathe. Let's go." and then the dialogue was quite similar. But, hey. At least I have new things to work on. It's always helpful to get a fresh perspective. It was awesome. Exhausting, but awesome.
The competition was fine. I sang my face off, and was really proud of what I accomplished in that hall. But, I wasn't what they were looking for. Is that disappointing? Definitely. Am I okay with it? Yup. Mom and I had an excuse to eat great food and drink beer before heading home. And it freed up the rest of my weekend, which was MOST welcome.
I got to visit Jacob and his family over break. It was the most fun. I love that family. Getting to meet those people that I literally felt like I already knew was a blast. Jacob talks about them a lot, and I love hearing about them. Now I can really experience those stories. I can't articulate how much I enjoyed it. I also got to know Jacob better, which is a blast. He's one of my best friends, and getting to know each other more is key to growing that friendship even more. You learn a ton when you see someone around his family. I just feel privileged that he wanted me to meet them and that he gave up some of his break away from school to hang out with me. It meant a lot. I'm glad it worked out.
Jacob and I have a lot in common, and I appreciate his friendship immensely. I can't really say much else. He's a really caring guy, and has a genuine desire to understand aspects of my life to which he can't really relate. It's a unique quality. A lot of people disregard or run from things they don't grasp, but Jacob tries. And that's awesome. I love the way he cares for people, and for me. He's just pretty awesome. Okay. Gross friendship stuff over.
It is amazing how God works things out. I have a not-so-great dad. My three best friends (guys) have great relationships with their respective fathers. Lately, I've been wondering how I'll manage to be a dad when the time comes when I haven't had a great example. In fact, I haven't really had any male role models in my life until recent years. God has taken that worry and kind of turned it upside-down. I have a group of men at Grace Presbyterian that care about me and show me what being a man of Christ is like. I see how my friends interact with their dads, and I love it. I'm sure that God planned on my going to visit the Groths and seeing that family. I truthfully learned a ton just from my short visit. They're a really awesome group of people. I just smile thinking about them. God has given me so many examples of families focused on Him. I'm not saying that God wasn't a part of my family, because He certainly was. It's just different. The relationship between a son and his father is an integral one, I believe. And sometimes overcoming the lack of that can be difficult, but the Lord will always provide you with the tools.
My time driving was spent listening to music, and talking with God. It was my time to reflect on the community I witnessed at Wheaton College. I got to process my experience with the Groths. I got to commit my lesson to memory. I highly recommend driving by yourself over long distances just to talk to God. It's awesome. My biggest epiphanies have occurred on I-70 in western Kansas. Although I didn't drive across western Kansas, I still got some quality thinking and listening in. I will say, though, that driving across Iowa will really test you and teach you to rely on God. No joke. It was awful.
If you get the opportunity to drive across the country, take it. You learn a lot about yourself. I can't believe that I'm going to drive from Wichita, KS to Antelope, OR this summer. And back. Aaron, if you read this, you always joke about flying out and driving back with me. Feel free. Talk about some Shenanigans.
