Day 7: Friday, 6/7/2024

It's all downhill from here...after a quick stop at North Highlands UMC, we headed home. No concerts because of the length of the drive. I usually start with a picture of a waffle iron or pancake maker because waffles are the best. And there were waffles at our final hotel. But something else caught my eye while I was enjoying my waffle. It was this headline:

I didn't actually pay attention to the context, though I'm assuming it's about cricket the game. Nevertheless, what went through my head was...how do we know the cricket was upset, and what can we do to calm him down? Followed immediately by, "Nooooo! Jiminy!!!!"

We got on the road again, but not before an epic photo bomb by Mark.

For whatever reason (that still escapes me), the youth really love Buc-ee's. I don't see the appeal. They are less excited about all the other stopping places. Except...

Bless his heart, he is my son.

We stopped for lunch at a place with a bunch of options. Typically the chaperones spread out with the youth, but for whatever reason we all had a hankering for McAllister's, and that's where most of us went.

Not pictured: Leanne and Camille

Let me say a word about this group of folks. They are the best. They care about the youth. They sacrifice their time to be a part of the trip. Some of them have children on the trip, and some don't. I absolutely and without question would not be able to do this if it weren't for these folks. I'm so grateful for them.

Back on the road, I put on the movie. I say "the movie" because there is only one movie that has been required watching every tour I've ever done. The Princess Bride is a classic, and we will always watch it. I know half the bus ignores it completely, and I don't care. It's tradition.

Mark pointed out the bus selfie opportunity when we got behind this truck with shiny back doors.

Shortly after, that's when it happened. An unprecedented second stop at...Buc-ee's. And this time, we actually got to meet Buc-ee.

I'm smiling, but I'm dying a little inside.

Slightly more famous than Buc-ee, I also got a selfie with these two. Which reminds me. When did people start doing selfies with the normal front facing camera? Apparently that's how people do it now...and I'm old.

Because of the schedule, it made sense to pick up a little extra food at Buc-ee's and then skip a full dinner stop. There's plenty of food to choose from. I actually tried the BBQ for the first time, and it wasn't bad. The banana pudding wasn't great, FYI. So here we are having our picnic.

I asked Michael if he was qualified to drive that, and he said not only was he not, but they came and told him he couldn't sit on it.

And that's when things started to get a little weird. I thought people usually rode horses, but here Mark gives Trots-a-Lot a ride.

So we took a quick group shot and got back on the bus.

There was significantly more engagement with the next movie: Moana.

I think about half the bus was singing along with the songs, including Leanne. Worth noting: when I heard singing coming from the back of the bus, it usually sounded good! You might think that's normal for a bus with a choir on it, but that's not usually the case. Usually they mostly shout when they sing on the bus, and it isn't pretty. Not on this trip!

As much as I love this trip and these youth, I do love the feeling when we come around the bend and see Atlanta in the distance. It means we're almost home. It's sad the trip is almost over, but it's good to be home too.

We unloaded the bus and cleaned it up. Mark drove away. I checked the youth out. We're not completely done, of course. We still have homecoming Sunday tomorrow. But the traveling part of the 2024 Youth Music Mission is behind us, and it was such a good trip. Top 3 ever. It went smoothly with just enough hijinks to keep it interesting. I feel like we accomplished what we set out to do. We built relationships with each other. We built relationships with God. We lived our faith into the world. We had waffles for breakfast. What more is there?

Sunday morning. Until then...

Peace and love,

John

Day 6: Thursday, 6/6/224

Thursday was our final day of concerts. It's a long way from Shreveport to Atlanta, so we won't have a concert on Friday. We started out singing at our second Project Transformation site. We don't usually sing in churches, but since a lot of PT sites are hosted at churches, that's where we sang.

It's super fun to visit with the kids after we sing. I'll admit, though, that much of our concert program didn't resonate with them. When we planned out program back in January, we were thinking mostly about a predominantly older crowd. There were really only about 2 songs that had the kind of energy that would engage a crowd of kids. At the same time, I was a little uncomfortable with the message in this context. The PT concerts were great, but in my mind they just didn't land right. I've had a couple of conversations since to start working through this, and I have some very exciting ideas to flesh out ahead of our next trip. I'm thinking about ways to program specifically for kids that will engage them better. So...tune in on our next music mission to see about that!

We headed out of Dallas toward Shreveport to sing at Holy Angels. We made a quick stop for lunch, but due to a couple of issues, we were running about 15 minutes late nevertheless. The folks at Holy Angels were very understanding, though!

The mission of Holy Angels is To provide individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities a path to self-fulfillment through education, empowerment, spirituality, independence, and work. They have about 185 fulltime residents 18 and over as well as a PreK-12 school. They employ some of the residents on site, but they also support their employment at local businesses. They also create art and other things like ice cream on site and sell it in gift shops. The profit from those ventures is used to raise the level of care residents receive by supplementing medicaid. The result is, well...it's just what they say they are trying to do: empower people with intellectual and developmental disabilities to reach their maximum level of independence.

It was also easily the most vocally appreciative audience we've sung for. Such a delight. And visiting after was also such a treat. You'll notice in the pictures the venue was the chapel, which is lovely. It has been redone because of some structural issues it had suffered. We sounded great in there, and it was a solid final concert.

After Holy Angels, we drove by a couple of John-important spots. We passed the first apartment Lisa and I lived in after we were married (not pictured). We past the first Methodist Church where I attended a service with Lisa when we were in school. We drove by Cheng's Garden Chinese restaurant, which is a buffet of mostly not very good food, but there's plenty of it and the ice cream is free (which is why to this day when I eat Chinese food I want ice cream after).

Then we stopped at my college: Centenary College of Louisiana. We did a mostly walking tour of all the important places: the place Lisa and I buried her fish when it died (in the Centenary Rose Garden). Saw the buildings, and took a moment to sing in the Hargrove Shell.

I played many concerts in that shell. And I saw some good ones too. The Count Basie Band came once! They were incredible. But none more enjoyable than the one song we sang there.

We checked into the hotel and headed to Senior Night Dinner. We ate at a place called Ralph and Kackoo's. We used to eat there when we were in college, although we didn't eat there super frequently because we were in college and couldn't afford it (in addition to serving free ice cream, Cheng's was super cheap and much closer to campus).

I didn't get everyone in the pictures because some of them were doing the various activities around the room. Next year I'll do a better job of this. But here are some pictures of the eating.

This night is about celebrating being together as a choir and especially celebrating our graduating seniors. We hand out attendance awards (excellent attendance, eye-popping attendance, perfect attendance, best attendance) and also tour-based awards (chaperone; rookie of the year; fresh, radiant, and sincere; and director awards). Here are the recipients of the Fresh, Radiant, and Sincere award (terms from my college choir days). Seen here being moldy, dull, and artificial. I've literally never seen their faces look like this...

And I asked them to sign a tour tshirt that I will hang up in my office.

They also wrote notes to the seniors on papers that I added to the senior notebooks. These books contain a note from me, the notes from the choir, a program from every tour the seniors have been on, 4 postcards from every tour, and 4 pictures from every year they were in the choir. If you flip back, they grow up before your very eyes!

We had a lot of food, too. Like...a LOT of food.

Sir Trots-a-Lot was dressed to celebrate the seniors as well.

You may have seen in my email signature a quote from Maya Angelou: People will forget what you said, and people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. I told each senior how they made me feel (and...how I *think* they make others feel!).

Luke makes me feel valued. He values my opinion. He values our relationship and our friendship. He's eager to help and cares how I'm doing.

Carter makes me feel important. She focuses on me when she is talking to me or interacting with me, and she is always kind and considerate.

Brooke makes me feel joyful. She is always positive and uplifting. She's an encourager who is funny and energetic...and if she's ever been angry I've not seen it.

I'm proud of these guys, and I'm going to miss them in the choir next year. But hey...two of them are staying close, so maybe I can convince them to come to Chancel Choir. This is the time--every year--when I wonder how we will have choir without these people. They've been a core part of it for so long. I know from experience that next year new leaders will step forward. We will continue to grow and become just like they will. But we will never be the same again as they move on to what is next for them.

Nobody touches the bus microphone except for me, the driver, or specific designees. On senior night, the seniors are allowed to take the mic and say...whatever they want to say. Sometimes it's funny. Sometimes it's profound. It's always meaningful, though. It gives them a chance to say what is on their heart. Many of them say they've been thinking about what they will say on senior night for years as they've watched people talking. Some of them admit to coming up with it at the last minute or even spontaneously (not recommended!).

We got back to the hotel and went inside to finish up our thankyou notes and get to bed as we face a slightly earlier morning on Friday heading all the way back to Decatur. I will say that room checks on the last night usually take longer for one reason or another.

And also, the girls' traditional photo:

I'll be writing a wrap-up in the final blog post tomorrow, so be sure to catch that one. Until then...

Peace and love,

John

PS. COLE JONES, this line is to satisfy my contractual obligation vis-a-vis a blog shout out.

Day 5: Wednesday, 6/5/2024

 Day 6, and the end is near. But first, a full day. As we know, a full day begins a waffle.

We began our day with a concert with Project Transformation. This is a program that (to significantly oversimplify) allows college students to work with underserved children. They have a day of activities, beginning with breakfast...well, and yesterday beginning with us while they were eating breakfast! The host sites are frequently churches, and we were in the youth hall of Grand Prairie First UMC.

Because of privacy concerns, we are not able to post any pictures that include the children, which is understandable but also a bummer, because they were so much fun! I even taught one of them an impromptu drum lesson on the djembe. They of course thought these big kids hung the moon. Like I said...I wish I could post pictures so you could see.

We returned to the hotel to change (we've been able to do that more than usual on this trip because of the location of our events and the hotel, and that's a real luxury when the other option is changing on the bus!). A little time at the hotel to gather ourselves, and we headed for an afternoon at 6 Flags. I know this is mirrored wrong. I'm old.

I don't ride the teacups because it makes me dizzy, but they are making it look like fun!

When most of your group is riding roller coasters, it's helps to have a Designated Survivor. In addition to being the one who survives to run the government, the designated survivor also holds on to personal items (though there are other ways to deal with personal items, and I want to believe Ellen was stuck like this the whole day).

This was Luke's first time on rollercoasters. We decided to start with the Texas Giant. This is a before picture, but he was smiling just as big after.

People who are riding rollercoasters should probably have BBQ for lunch, right? That is, people who are riding rollercoasters and also small woodland creatures. That squirrel just walked right in. Seen here asking Michael to buy him a brisket sandwich and souvenir cup.

After lunch I switched to another group. Grady and Lex weren't rollercoaster people either, so we decided to go on the Shockwave. It's a fairly mild ride that only goes upside down twice. I had instructed the youth not to scream because we have 2 concerts on Thursday, but also I may be partially deaf in my right ear. Grady's subsequent review of the event: 10/10. Lex's review: 10/10. Grady isn't sure he'd like to continue with ambitious rollercoasters, but Lex is now hooked.

More of our kids on the shockwave. This coaster was the first big coaster I ever rode...and the one that hooked me on coasters!

They did so well on that one that we headed over to the Texas Giant. He's all smiles here, but Grady declined to go around again. He made it, though! Of course, I feel like Camille and I deserve kudos as well. For some reason people seem surprised that we rode all the big ones. "Look man, just because we're older than you doesn't mean we're old!"

I'm not sure why CJ is making that face. But let me just take a moment to tell you this. CJ is the real deal. I love the way he cares for our youth, including my kids. We're lucky to have him.

Every day, Cole and Gwyn have asked for a shout out in the blog. My rule is that if you ask for it, I won't do it. So...no shout out for them.

Luke...does this count as a roller coaster? There are technically rollers under the logs.

Ansley is distracted by Dippin Dots. But then again we all were.

Awwwwwwwww....too short to ride this ride.

Ride! Ride! Ride! Ride! Ride! Do it again! Do it again!

Ooooooohhhhhhh....one too many rides.

A few moments later...

Almost got thrown out of the park because I pulled out my phone before we were in the station...but honestly. We were waiting outside the station for the folks in front of us to load/unload. I had time.

How was it, guys? Shout out to Wesley who is now a bonafide coaster junky.

Mariann...who held your hand on this ride...and how did that even work?

The day was drawing to a close, but I promised a friend I'd go on the Pirate Speelunker ride. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was cool inside, so it had that going for it.

A little *too* cool. Like...what even is this? The music didn't make it better. This is supposed to be a pirate ride. It was just...weird. I legit wonder if drugs were involved in the creation of this ride.

Last of the day. Lucy and I usually ride coasters together, but we didn't do that all day long until the very end. I had promised Grady I'd do the runaway mine train, and we had just enough time to make it happen. And then when we came around to the station, they let us do it again without getting out! Not my favorite coaster, but good partner here, and great friends. A solid end to a great day at 6 Flags.

After 6 Flags we went for a chaperone dinner. We parked in front of Walmart, so naturally everyone went to Walmart. I went with my group too. We looked at legos, and then I went and found some sunglasses...because mine were still in one of the runaway mine cars. Womp womp.

I delayed the start of thank you note writing this year. I'll let you know how that pans out, but early returns are good. But the time has arrived. We took a moment to gather our thoughts...about what we were enjoying and why it was important...and then we started writing folks to thank them for their role in making that happen.

We didn't finish, but we made a good dent. Then I sent everyone to bed. We'll finish them up on Thursday. I went around to check everyone into their rooms. I haven't told you about the smells of rooms. I have a number of thoughts on the subject. But I encountered a new hotel room smell. It was...brownies.

These are hotel microwave brownies. I wasn't clear on the ingredients. I know there was some milk from downstairs (had been stored in the refrigerator). While CJ and I were checking the room in, the final brownie was in the microwave. We left before they tried them. Since I'm writing this the next day and have had a conversation with them about it, I can tell you that as yummy as they look here, they were actually really terrible. Better luck next time, guys.

And that's it. Wednesday is done. It was a good day among good days. Tomorrow we sing in Dallas and then head to Shreveport. Until then...

Peace and love,

John