We travelled about 500 miles a day on most of our travel days (as opposed to visiting days or investigating days). First stop was my home town in the midwest.

When I was a senior in high school, I rehearsed every Saturday with a choir of about 70 students from high schools all over the state. We had been screened for good character and community service, and had sent recommendations from our teachers and other adults as well as giving an audition. I was chosen because I could sight-read the alto parts and I played the violin and so could be in the string ensemble for used for some of the classical numbers, and I could oh-by-the-way sing decently in a choir situation. All winter we worked on our repertoire and in the spring gave several practice concerts. In the summer we travelled to England, Finland and Sweden and stayed with local families in each area where we gave concerts at the rate of about one or two a day for seven weeks. We were sort of the billboard for a youth exchange program.

In late June this year, in my home town, was held a reunion for all the Chorales sent over a 15-year period. About 8-10 members from my year, 1963, showed up. There was much hugging and reminiscing at the banquet. We also rehearsed for about 12 hours over the weekend and gave a two-hour concert on Sunday afternoon in a great concert hall in the town. The conductor of my and earlier Chorales had passed away, and was replaced for the remaining years by the man who had been my high school teacher for choir, madrigal group, and a Broadway-type musical. He is now 83 and conducted for the reunion, assisted by a former Choraler who is now a teacher.

I have described all this in depth so you will know how important the Chorale experience was in my young life, and how big a chunk of who I am now was formed then. I should add that my father had died two years earlier and I was still looking for a new normal.

One of our numbers, in 1963 and in 2008, was a version of, you guessed it, the Saint Francis Prayer. So meaningful was it for us in 1963 that the conductor had it printed up on cards for us to keep (it must be in my basement SOMEwhere!). I credit the prayer with giving me a new basis for faith, the likes of which I hadn't known since my sister taught me Sunday School songs in my babyhood.

My ex has a younger brother and a younger sister who were both in Chorales after mine. We had been in correspondence ahead of time, and planned to get together with other family members after the concert.

Now i have given you the background, and next i'll tell you about the remarkable things that happened in my home town this summer.