In the first few weeks of quarantine, I did a lot of house cleaning, organizing, sorting. The next month or so I complained that my life was so disrupted, and mourned that shows were being cancelled. In the third month, I found myself mourning colleagues who had died of COVID-19 and offering comfort to friends and family who were sick. And then some real change began.

I started to re-invent myself. Just a bit. Little by little. It started with Live streams. First on my iPhone, and then with two camera angles, and then with a mixing board, microphones, headsets. The piano I had bought to be re-furbished in Atlanta was finally ready. It had been 18 months. It arrived just when I needed it most. I began re-visiting music I hadn’t touched in years, created new arrangements of well-loved songs. I started a campaign on Patreon to involve fans in my process and to create a community that could not only support me financially, but contribute to the creative process by giving me feedback and input.

It’s 7 months since I have traveled or performed in a concert hall, but it has also been a time of reflection, growth, renewal. I am so grateful for the gift of music, to everyone who has written to me to tell me my music has touched them in some way–for the new bonds I have been forming that might not have formed if I hadn’t been here. Home. Still.

Like the image I uploaded here, we can’t always see growth. It can’t always be measured in inches, in financial numbers, in weight. Growth happens when we are open to listening, when we overcome a difficult obstacle, when we embrace change. Thanks for helping me grow.