One Moment in Time

 

Would you believe I didn't even know the name Whitney Houston until 1989? And would you believe it would be another few years still before I could put a face with that name? As I have mentioned several times before, I didn't listen to this kind of music when I was a kid. It was a hymnal and The Chuck Wagon Gang for me when I was growing up. Well, at least until I became a teenager, and then I rebelled by listening to things like Petra (who can forget This Means War?), Ferrell & Ferrell, DeGarmo & Key, and Carman. When I really wanted to deviate from the norm, I put on my Tchaikovsky records and listened to the 1812 Overture, cannons blasting and everything.

I was weird, I admit it.

And I know it's hard to believe now, but 20 years ago I wasn't the extroverted showman I am today. In fact, I was a little shy with my gifts and came lately to the stage. But Whitney is the one who really brought out the performer in me.

In 1989, my family made an unexpected move away from the people I'd known all my life. And we did it toward the end of the school-year. I think there were 9 weeks left in the spring semester of my Sophomore year. My folks gave me the option of staying behind with my grandparents to finish the year, or going with them. But if I got anything from my Mom and Dad, it was a sense of adventure. So I left town with them. We moved to Roaring Springs, Texas, and if you've heard of it, you must be Assembly of God from West Texas. Or a well-traveled Texan.

Actually, we didn't even move to Roaring Springs proper, a community of 356 people when I was there. We moved to a church campground 15 miles from Roaring Springs. It's the only time I have truly lived out in the country. We were on a rural bus route, and just so everyone knows...for nine weeks, and nine weeks only, I rode the little short bus. And that little bus didn't take me to school in Roaring Springs. We had to go fifteen miles further to Matador to attend Motley County High School.

So here's where the story gets kinda funny. Because I was coming from a different school system, my class schedules didn't exactly match up. So I ended up in a "journalism" class that consisted of me, myself, and an Apple 2 computer. In Matador, they split the guys and girls Biology class, but because my World History class was now for juniors, I ended up being the lone guy among five or six fairly attractive young ladies who were dumb as posts and in need of tutoring. And I was the lone Sophomore in a Junior History class. For the sake of all my White Deer-Skellytown friends, I'd like to say that we had some extraordinary educators instructing us. I'd also like to point out that for such a small town, we had lots of really smart people.

That wasn't necessarily true at MCHS and I'm glad I was only there for 9 weeks, because nobody will remember me and find me on Facebook, and then read this blog to hear that I think the average intelligence was equal to that of a fencepost. So after a short 9 week stint, I managed to sweep the awards ceremony at the end of the school year, taking home several large and impressive medals for academic excellence in a variety of subjects. And that's not the end of it. The lady in charge of the annual talent contest found out I played the piano and drafted me.

I hadn't really played the piano much over the previous 2 years, but when we moved to Roaring Springs, there was a piano available that I played every morning before the short bus picked me up. I began to pick out songs by ear, and improvise with some arpeggios and scales. Two songs that I learned were How Great Thou Art and The Rose--not songs that would normally be put together. But those two songs I performed as a medley, and I won the Motley County talent contest too...taking away the First Place ribbon from the little girl who had won several years in a row for her very talented piano playing. She was good, and she played classical music by the note. But me just playing around, and playing by heart, took the day.

And from that came my first invitation to play for a purpose. The 8th Grade class decided they wanted me to play for their graduation ceremony. So I had to learn two new songs--Pomp and Circumstance and One Moment in Time. And regarding the latter, I didn't just have to learn to play it...I had to learn to play it well enough for the 8th Graders to sing it as their class song. I worked hard, because I'm a slow reader when it comes to music. But on the appointed night, I played, they sang, the school year was over.

For a few days, I was the talk of the town...and I'm not sure it was all nice talk. But after those nine weeks of school and a summer of church camp, we left for New Mexico and I have not been seen in Motley County again.

But I can still play (and sing) One Moment in Time.