5. One Girl. One Journey – Dad

I guess the reason I chose to start the beginning of my story with an ending of another´s is because it´s a crucial point in my life. It was like my ending too. The end of a life that I just took for granted. I mean, I was happy. I was living with my boyfriend, I had a job, life was naturally leading me to a world of music; songwriting, singing. Learning to play piano… and I had all the time in the world. I was a teenager. Then everything abruptly shut down. Everything became dark. It was an event that changed everything about the life I knew, it changed everyone in my family, it changed the life I thought I was going to have, and the music stopped. Because he was taken away from us.

I lost my father and my musical mentor. I had music in my blood – just like he did. He was the one who taught me how to play the piano so I could accompany him as he played the fiddle or guitar. He encouraged me to sing. So, it was only natural for me to believe that I was going to sing and write music. He was a gifted musician and as a young girl I was excited when we played music together. When he asked me to sing to a song he played. I sang with him at home and at dances on stage. I played the piano and sang cover songs and even my own original songs that I wrote. I performed a song for my talent choice when I competed for Carnival Queen. My path was already chosen. Then it ended.