Music for Dallon

My sister, Barbara, called me last Monday morning and told me that there was an opening for a musical number in her ward this Sunday, and the topic was Bringing the World His Truth. She asked me if I could write an arrangement of "We'll Bring the World His Truth" from the Children's Songbook.

Dallon, Barbara's twenty-year-old son, is home on leave from Afghanistan, where he has been almost daily in the line of fire. We have prayed every day for his safety and the safety of his comrades. Since I couldn't be there when he arrived home, and even though Barbara asked me to write the music for her, I took it on as a gift for Dallon. It's his favorite song. He probably doesn't know how much I love him because we have never really spoken much. He's kind of a quiet sort of person, and I am easily intimidated by people that I can't read. Regardless of that, I do love him, and this music was for him.

It was a busy week with the mega garden, visitors, and the county fair going on, so I didn't take more than a few minutes to work on ideas before Friday. I prayed hard for help. It seems like I am always a last minute person when it comes to creative endeavors! It makes for a lot of stress, but the rewards are always worth it. I got a start on it Friday but actually did the majority of the work yesterday in between other things that were going on. I was judging the County Fair Idol contest, so in addition to once each day on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, I had to be at the fairgrounds in Nephi twice yesterday, at noon and again at 6:00pm. I arrived home around 1:30pm in between, before the finale of the competition, and managed to just barely finish the entire piece minus the introduction and the ending. I called Barb at around 5:20 and started bawling before she even answered the phone. I told her my heart and soul was in this, and that I had to go back to the fair, but I was emailing it to her and I would finish the beginning and end when I got home.

I started on it again at about 10:30pm, and got busy fixing mistakes and tweaking. When all was said and done, and with some email problems and doing laundry mixed in, I finished about 2:30am. Got to bed at 3:00am. I woke up again this morning at 8:00am to be at 9:00am church, but I called Barbara first thing to make sure she got the email. She did, and she said she thought she would play and have her three grown kids sing, or four if Dallon would join in.

Most of my music has come from my sister Barbara requesting things. She's a great motivator who provides a lot of encouragement for me, and I am thankful that she is always calling me with requests. Dallon is going to be home for nine more days with his family. I hope the music stays with him as a comfort when he goes back to the war zone.