New Paths, and Adventures in Salado

This morning my mother, my grandmother and I set off for Salado, Texas to visit my cousin. John and my mother share their Great Grandmother Hannah Davies Lewis, from Briton Ferry in South Wales—my great great grandmother. I believe this makes John my mother’s second cousin, and my second cousin once removed. Genealogy! This all matters less to me than that he’s related to me and a fabulously good-natured fellow. I appreciate friendly folks and I appreciate them more when they’re my folks!

At nine we palavered with John and his wife, Kim—who is just as charming and excellent and friendly. John is a fabulous voice teacher, and Kim is a fabulous pianist. That is an incredibly condensed description of what they do, and the talents they have. We ate donuts from the local bakery; they had coffee and I had delicious jasmine tea. We watched the recording from the Swansea Eisteddfod and looked at old photographs and talked about far-away family. John shared entertaining anecdotes. Mom evangelized Omega 3s. I was mostly quiet. Family occasions have me a little cowed these days, but I enjoyed myself. It’s so nice to spend time with new people who are warm and wonderful.

We had lunch at a cute little cafe in town, talked more about possibilities. We headed home with good feelings.

And so, tomorrow I’m going to give John a call to schedule some singing. I would like to try working with him, and he sounds excited about it. I’ll admit to you right now, I’m nervous and uncertain and a teeny bit terrified to work with someone again, even this one little trial session. This is different than hiring a pianist and running my own drills, as it were. It’s been a long time since I worked with a coach or teacher on technical singing and each one of you knows very well how I like my autonomy. Some of that has to do with negative experiences in educational and semi-professional settings. But I think it’s time for this new thing; I think we can do good work and I think that these sessions outside of pursuing a degree may hit the sweet spot—that place where I can accomplish incredible things. And who better to help me than my cousin, who rocks, who is excellent at what he does, who I find friendly and amicable and utterly nifty?

John is retired now and only spends one day a week teaching at Baylor. Finding a morning to duck off to Salado once or twice a month might not be difficult at all. Even if it is, it might be worth it. And if it’s worth it, I want to do it. I believe it will be worth it. Even if it’s a little scary.

Update: Now that I’ve written this entry, done some venting, I’m excited. Isn’t that cool??