6 days to get there, 2 hours to get home: The Sixth Day

We returned home in just over 2 hours. But that's [nearly] the end of the story. Let's back up.

Our concerts were just a few minutes' drive from the hotel. Deceptively short, as it turns out, because the roads in the area are very narrow, usually with cars on at least one side, and sometimes at odd angles that make driving it on a bus difficult at best. Mark earned hazard pay for sure. Fortunately we had left enough time that we weren't late arriving.

And bonus! While we were driving, we found a street with my name all over it!

Our concerts were at two towers that provide affordable housing. The Central Falls Housing Authority is a nonprofit that focuses on creating spaces where people with low income and live. They are doing a remarkable job of that. Both places were fantastic.

Both places also had large fish tanks in their dining rooms.

Central Falls is also a majority-minority community with a large Hispanic population. Some of our audience did not speak English. Some of our youth speak Spanish, though! So they were able to visit anyway. I shouldn't be amazed. But it was very cool to see.

Also I discovered one of our audience had a birthday, so we all sang happy birthday to Marilyn. She talked to me for a little while afterward, showing me family pictures and telling me how much she enjoyed our concert and her birthday song.

It was a very small crowd for our second concert. But it was a good one! Solid effort for the last concert of the trip.

And bonus! We bumped into Susannah! She served at Oak Grove in youth ministry before she moved to Providence with her husband. We haven't forgiven him. It was good to see Susannah though!

Full disclosure: I also served with Susannah's husband, Patrick, for several years at Decatur First UMC, so it was actually nice to see him too...

After the concerts it was to Providence Place Mall for lunch--and a reminder that we're in the north because there was so much Pepsi. Ew.

We had planned to go to Beavertail Lighthouse for the very end of our trip. I was really looking forward to it. Unfortunately there were a couple of accidents on the highways to the lighthouse, and after starting in that direction, we determined that we didn't really have time to get down there without potentially being late for our flight...and while we typically don't stress too much about being a little late to this stop or that one, I wasn't willing to risk being late for our flight.

Mark dropped us at the airport. I got our boarding passes, and the chaperones led their groups through security to the gate. Turns out we had a little more time than we thought because the incoming flight was delayed from Atlanta. I stood beside the door with the counter on my phone open. And watched everyone come through.

59 souls (including me). 47 youth and 12 adults. I checked with the gate agent as well to make sure we had everyone (she assured me that we did by showing me her passenger manifest).

It's been a while since I've flown. Planes are so nice now! Wow!

Sir Trots was ready for his first flight.

And not just Sir Trots. We had a number of youth on the trip who were flying for the first time!

The screens on every seat are really cool (again...it's been a while since I flew anywhere). This was one of my favorite views of our flight. And because I am a dork, I was the first to know when we began our descent.

I also noticed something along the way: Florence, SC. Don't tell the youth, but this means we passed Bucee's without stopping.

But Sir Trots did stop at a Pilot! This was our pilot for the evening. He gave Trots his wings for his first flight!

If there was ever a cuter airport greeting, I'm not sure what it would be. Paris here to welcome us home (and to give Sir Trots a little love). I'm always a little sad when this week comes to an end because it's one of my favorite weeks. But I'm also always glad to be home.

Gil drove the church bus to pick up some of us chaperones who had left our cars at the church. After I had checked everyone out of the airport, he pulled around and picked us up. When everyone was onboard, I stepped on. Last boot off the field of battle. This really felt like the end to me.

There are still some loose ends. Mark will arrive back in town with the bus today (Saturday), so I'll have to meet him at the church to unload all the bags and gear we left onboard with him. Then tomorrow is homecoming: 11am worship service and then a celebratory spaghetti lunch afterward in the fellowship hall.

I'm hoping the lunch will give our youth an opportunity to connect with other members of the church who sit with them, not unlike our regular concerts. Not just for us to share our stories from this week, but also to hear some of theirs...using music as a tool in building relationships. After all, Music Mission was never really about the music.

Reaching Our Destination and Celebrating Our Seniors: The Fifth Day

When we woke up, we were in Syracuse, NY. By the end of the day we had passed been in 3 more states and wound up at our final destination: Providence, Rhode Island.

The itinerary was actually pretty short. Breakfast, go to venue (lunch on the way), sing, go to hotel, senior night dinner. But sometimes things on tour take longer than you might thing. Like room checks, which should take about 2 minutes per room but somehow take...much longer than that.

Anyway, we hopped on the bus. Ella had Trots-a-Lot safe and secure.

We stopped at a mall for lunch again. We've actually done that a few times, and I swear it was like walking back in time. Malls with stores and food courts and such. I didn't think they existed anymore! I spent a little time looking, but I never found the Beanie Baby cart I was looking for. I was hoping to pick up a Princess Di bear.

Hanna wasn't looking for Beanie Babies. I'm actually not sure what was going on in this picture...and also I think the guy at the top of the escalator was also confused.

Our concert was at the Center for Living and Rehabilitation in Benington, Vermont. The concert was pretty good, but man it was HOT. We brought the temperatures from the south with us, and honestly up here they aren't prepared for that. I shortened the program hoping we'd be able to get through it...and we did. But man alive. So hot.

We were of course well received, though. And even the heat didn't stop us from chatting for a while. In fact, when it was time to leave, I had to go and tell our kids it was time to leave.

After the concert we headed for Providence (actually a little suburb called Pawtucket, which sounds like a euphemised curse word to me...Pawtucket!). We stopped for bathroom and to pick up some needed refreshment. But they didn't have any refreshment. They had...this.

Pepsi is gross. That is all. In fact, do you know where they are drinking Pepsi?

Purgatory Chasm. That's where.

We checked in to our hotel and then got ready for senior night. We ate at an Italian place on Federal Hill called Cassarino's. It was tasty!

We gave out attendance awards, tour awards, and of course we celebrated our graduating seniors. They each received a tshirt from Niagara Falls and a binder that contained paper with notes written by the other singers, advice from alumni, a program, postcards, and photos from every year they were in the choir, and a note from me.

We had a special surprise guest! Hanna is our youth staff on the trip, but guess who wandered in off the street to the restaurant? IT WAS CJ! Bro flew all the way to Boston and took a train to Providence. You should have heard the room and seen the looks on the faces when he walked in the room. They lit up!

Unfortunately I was so busy working on everything that I didn't get any pictures of all that. I was bummed, but it's ok because tomorrow we are headed to the Beavertail lighthouse, which will be a great spot for photos (spoiler alert, I'm writing this in the airport, and that didn't go according to plan).

The seniors took the bus microphone on the way back to the hotel. It's always deeply rewarding to hear them talk about what choir has meant to them and to hear their stories.

Room checks take more time on the last night. This year no exception. And while I was checking rooms, I found these...

Very funny, guys.

One more day. And homecoming. Can't believe it's almost over.

Even More Firsts: The Fourth Day

Hard to believe we are more than half way through the trip at this point. I mean, it is and it isn't. We're developing a rhythm, and things are mostly running smoothly. We have delays now and then, and a couple of concerts have started a little late, but thy have all been good an effective. And today we had a number of additional first that are really cool.

Let's start here. I walked into the breakfast area to make my waffle and said, "What's the waffle line situation?" Cole said, "This is your waffle." I said, "No you can eat your waffle." He said, "No, I made this waffle for you." I'm not sure how he knew when I was going to be there. But it was delicious. And it tasted even better because I didn't have to cook it! First time a youth has made me breakfast on tour.

Our first venue is the last assisted living facility in the city that accepts medicaid for payment. It's 10 floors or so, but they don't have a large common room. My contact had told me we would be in a tent in the parking lot, and that's exactly what we found when we rolled up. They were bringing out chairs and tables for the residents.

We've sung outside before, but this is the first time a place has set up a tent like this for us. And it turns out there's a story. Some of the local businesses objected to closing part of the parking lot and bringing in a tent, so they had to go to a meeting at city hall to argue for setting up the tent and using the parking spaces. Our coming to the event was part of why it was ultimately approved.

We also were not the only thing that day! After we left there was a whole thing...hamburgers and hot dogs, face painting, and kangaroos. Yes. They bring out kangaroos. For petting maybe? I wasn't clear on that. But that makes this another first: it's the first time I've been the opening act for Kangaroos.

It was windy out, so we needed Michael to help manage Leanne's music. The stress of the page-turner is real. He did a good job.

We did visit with the residents. They had been vocal during the concert, including applauding the solos during the songs, which was awesome! And as a thank you, they had donuts there were made right there in the tower (powdered sugar and chocolate). And they brought out apple juice. 

We had 2 concerts, so we said goodbye and hit the road. We stopped for food about half way there. I wound up at McDonald's with these jokers.

This must have been when the winner of the photo contest was made, because this is where my computer organized it by date and time. The contest was to be in a picture where someone was pointing. After lunch I stood outside the bus pointing to see if anyone took a picture of it. Someone took a pic of people pointing at me while I was pointing. The winner took a picture of someone pointing at a picture of the people pointing at me pointing. Cool idea, bro!

Common theme: traffic and tight spots. We were running a little behind for our second concert. I let them know what was happening, and they assured me it was no problem. 

Our second concert was at a memory care facility. It's 100 years old, and the only room large enough for us was the chapel, which doesn't have air conditioning. But it was beautiful! Unfortunately it was really hot. Last week the highs were in the 50's. It was 91 degrees out when we went in to sing.

They sounded great in there! We did have to take a water break at one point in the concert (another first).

My contact told me that nobody ever comes to be with them. They can't even get a priest from the church to come regularly. The best they can do is a deacon when his son can drive him. That's been a common theme this week, actually. We keep going places that don't get choirs very often or not at all. Most of the time we outnumber the audience. But it's deeply fulfilling. Not just to see how much the residents enjoy our concert and our visit, but to see how much it means to the people who care for them.

After the concert we went to our hotel to check in and change to go to a baseball game. We've gone to a game just about every year. I typically alternate between major and minor league. It was minor league this year...the Syracuse Mets.

It was really pretty, but it was also pretty hot. 92 degrees according to their thermometer. Didn't feel too bad once the sun went down though. Minor league games are so much fun! We had a patio with food (all you can eat and drink). And congratulations to the home team! They held on to win.

Twinning is winning...

This room of girls all bought these obnoxious hats. 

Here we are on our patio at the end of the game. This is our silly picture. Honestly I didn't include it here on purpose....I just picked one and went with it. But guys, this is what I deal with.

Oh oh! During the game! They're talking about what to get Millie and Jimmy for their wedding and also how to take the hex of the right fielder's glove. They're dealing with some serious stuff.

I had no idea this was going to be a thing, but apparently after the game there was an eating competition. The world champion hot dog eater was on hand (a bunch of our youth got to meet him, and he did autographs for them and such). We competed against 3 people eating boneless chicken wings (aka chicken nuggets, right?). To be clear, they added up what those 3 guys ate and compared it to what he ate. And he won. Apparently he's famous. Like most of the youth already knew his name. Jimmy Peanut I think it is. Joey? Joey Chestnutt? Crud I can't remember. Anyway...he won.

But there was someone way more famous than him at the game, and they knew it. They welcomed him on the jumbotron...

Then...back to the hotel for devotional time and hopefully some sleep. It can be hard to come by on this trip. It's an aggressive schedule, and at the end of the day I like to check in with each room of youth about how they are doing. Hanna and Rachel have been coming with me, so they are also sleep deprived. They're holding up remarkably well.

So that's about it. Lots of exciting things tomorrow as we celebrate our seniors! There are so many of them!