Sunday, February 10, 2013

The people who affect us

It's funny how many people and circumstances have affected our lives in ways that we probably cannot even comprehend.

A few days ago, a man died who possibly had the largest most indirect effect on my vocation/career as an organist. His funeral was yesterday, and while I barely even knew him, and I'm sure he wouldn't even have recognized me, it's funny to think about how one little person/circumstance can change your life so much.
I was an undergraduate non-music major in college, and this man was friends with my mom and also close friends with the head of the organ department. When I mentioned to my mom that I thought the organ might be a neat instrument to learn to play, she arranged a meeting with the head of the organ department through the friendship of this man. Would I have become an organist without this bit of serendipity? God only knows. On the other hand, since I do think that what I do now is divinely inspired, I suppose that most likely, yes, other circumstances would have occurred to have the same result, and yet, it's so funny. I never would have imagined that that little meeting, and my chance remark about wanting to learn the organ would have changed the course of my life.

May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

RIP, Paul Melton.

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