Using My Voice

How On Earth Did I Get Here???

If anyone had told me a few short years ago that I would be blogging on the internet, I would have had them committed for psychiatric evaluation. I used the internet regularly in my work, of course. In fact, I had been on the development team for a disease management program for asthma that was internet based. However, I could not really see myself utilizing the internet for communication or entertainment in any regular fashion. Which just goes to show that I have no future as a seer. Clairvoyance evidently is not my strong suit!!

So what happened? Well....this guy did.

My daughter had bugged me all through the first season of American Idol to watch the show. I must admit, I sneered at her. This was not a serious music competition, for Heaven's sake. It was a TELEVISION show. On Fox, no less. I must humbly confess that I sneered at the possibility that any real talent could be found on such a show. I was pretty darn smug about the whole thing.

However, I love my daughter dearly, and one night I grudgingly tuned in to watch an episode of this show that she liked so much. As it happened, it was the Wild Card episode of the 2003 season. Well, just like so many, many others, I heard a voice that completely blew me away. I come from a musical family. I have been singing since I was a toddler. My life has been full of choirs, solos, voice lessons, master classes, concerts, musicals....lots and lots of music. I have heard many wonderful voices. I have loved many very talented singers. But on that night in 2003, I heard something incredibly special. A voice that comes around once or twice in a lifetime. A voice that is a true gift. The voice of Clay Aiken.

My life has been one fun adventure after another since that night in March, 2003. It has been full of laughter and friendships, caring and community, and a new awareness of the world I live in and the lives of those who inhabit it.

Clay Aiken has a magnificent voice, and he uses it beautifully in song. However, he has also used his voice to bring attention and commitment to others. He started his own foundation, The Bubel-Aiken Foundation, to promote the inclusion of children with disabilities with their non-challenged peers. He has been the national spokesperson for a national reading program, Toys for Tots, and Trick Or Treat for UNICEF. He has traveled the world and testified before Congress in his role as a UNICEF Ambassador. He has lent his time, his voice, his talents, and even the clothes off his back to help so many charities that I can't even begin to list them all.

I have worked non-stop since I was a teenager, but he makes me feel like a sloth!!

As I said in the comments under the title of my blog, I was fortunate enough to have a chance to meet Clay Aiken before a concert this past year. His message to me, and to many others, was to "Use Your Voice". I'm trying to do that in many ways. I hope to speak about many things that touch on my life.

Clay, just in case you're listening....I'm Using My Voice.