A Tribute

Last night the women's choir I am in performed in a barbershop festival. There were a lot of different groups: the women's choir, mens choir, and a special guest quartet. The night was very entertaining, full of laughs, and great music. I was thoroughly enjoying myself because I could listen to barbershop all day and I was getting a grade for being there! the guest quartet closed the show. They sang their last pieces and exited the stage. Then they made another entrance. The lead announced that they had performed on our stage 6 years before and that they wanted to pay tribute to the man who had made it all possible. Apparently, his family was invited to be in the audience that night, and were privileged to witness a slide show in honor of his memory. After the slide show, the men's choir, joined by members of a local barbershop group and the guest barbershop quartet, sang a special song directed by one of the departed man's close friends. The piece ended in a huge chord and after the powerful cut off there was silence in the whole hall. That is, except for the director's weeping. He shared the stage with at least fifty other men, but he stood alone, a sole figure on the stage with his face turned from us. From the front row, I could see his hands shake. He then knew he had to give the audience a chance to applaud so, he turned around and stepped into the front row of the men's choir so two boys on either side of him could brace him. He seemed to be a little week in the knees, but his face was full of emotion. A big smile spread across his face.
I was really struck with how genuine this man was on stage! Here he was totally opening his heart to all of us through his passion for music. After being so struck with the magnitude of it all, it was hard to do a second concert with the same kind of happy, playful attitude we had to project for one of our pieces. I didn't even know the director, but my heart went out to him just the same. It just makes me think of how blessed we are to have the gospel in our lives. We have the knowledge of life after death and we know we can be with our loved ones again. We will cherish them the same way we do now. We will be able to hold them in our arms again. We will rejoice in sharing new experiences, and contemplate and grow together. This I am certain of. We will never find ourselves on the other side alone.