Monday, April 30, 2018

Some Memories Are Priceless: Our Experience with BYU Vocal Point

Last night while laying in bed I found myself crying.  It's not a super common occurrence for me--usually reserved for times of frustration with parenting teens or touching Disneyland musical performances.  However, last night I just felt so...grateful.

Most of you know that for months Dave and I have been working on getting BYU Vocal Point here to town to perform. (You know that because I can't shut up about it on social media.) When we saw them perform last October I just had this overwhelming feeling that we needed to bring them here to Vancouver. I didn't know why I felt so strongly about it.

Now I do.

We have had the privilege of having these young men (and their delightful stage manager, Sarah) in our home for the last few days. They have eaten meals, rehearsed numbers, and spent a surprising amount of time coordinating outfits for their music video shoot today.  (And I thought picking clothes for family pictures was tough!) We have taken them shopping and sightseeing and to church where they performed probably the best musical number that chapel has ever seen. Tomorrow they will host a workshop for local high school students and an evening fireside for local youth and they will finish it all off with their sold out show Wednesday night.

But none of those things are why I found myself surprisingly emotional last night.

What I have found priceless in this experience is watching these kids interact with my two youngest children.  They have taken the time to really talk with them.  They've treated them like their own little brother and sister. They took prom pictures with Parker and his date when their other plans fell through at the last minute. They have laughed with them, listened, offered advice and encouragement and filled in a bit of the hole left when four older siblings have grown and gone. The other morning I came downstairs to find  Jason and Jantzen singing while Parker played the piano and I was...speechless. Our kids have watched their music videos and followed them on social media. And they were here, in our home, at our piano. These are memories our family will treasure forever.

People have asked me if these boys have attitudes or are full of themselves and the answer is no.  They are humble. Kind. Thoughtful and unfailingly polite. Oh, and they sing really, really well. And we are fortunate that we've shared these few days with them.

And now I'm crying again...


*I hope you have tickets to the show and maybe get a chance to chat with them for a minute. You will see what I mean. And if you don't have tickets?  You can see some of their videos here:

(We have loved housing Jason and Jantzen and these are some fun videos that feature them.  Jason is the one singing "Rewrite the Stars" and swinging around a la Zac Efron)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxIILbNMTHY

(And here is Jantzen whose singing will break your heart a little...)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgBazthb_kY