Anniversaries this month

I have a list of topics that I want to write about, as the time seems appropriate.  This weekend doesn't quite feel right for it.  Last week and this next week are some important anniversaries.

A bright spot in a dark night

Last post, I wrote a little bit about spending my junior year of high school in a new school, hundreds of miles away from my friends.  That was the first time in a decade that I wasn't taking any sort of music class at school.  But when I said I made the mistake of giving up music, that wasn't completely accurate.  I made the mistake of stopping playing in the band, and otherwise not studying music in school.

What I did do, was sing with the choir at church.  It was all right.  Much of the repertoire was in Latin.  I remember a woman joining us, she seemed embarrassed when they asked what part she sang -- her answer was "Bass."

And then there was another woman, who sometimes in the winter months came to practice wearing a sweatshirt that said NASA.  I commented on it one evening.  Some time later, she brought in 2-3 large photo-prints of the space shuttle, the launchpad at night, a day launch, and perhaps a third.  And she gave them to me.  That one little gift, meant a lot to me.  It gave me hope again.

The very few people who read our teenage work of fan-fiction will be surprised to know, her name was Mrs. Charon.  My jaw about hit the floor, we had named a planet "Charon" in the story written before I moved.