inspired

Me: "What school do you go to?"

Her "(that school)"

Me: "Oh, really?  A good friend of mine used to work there.  Did you know Ms. Haley? Tiffany Haley?"

Her:  A pause.  A recognition

"Y-y-yeah..."

Me: "Yeah, she was a good friend, I miss her every day, still can't believe she's gone"

Her:  "Oh?  I was at her funeral"

Me:  "Really?  So was I!"

Her:  "You were?!  I didn't know her all that well, but I sang with the choir"

Me:  "Omigosh, you guys did an amazing job!  Your Hallelujah rendition was beautiful.  Really special..."

-------------------------

I began working with a new tutor student today.  SAT prep.  Her dad was referred to me before we moved from Colorado Springs.  I'd let him know I'd moved, and he contacted me this week to work with his daughter online.

While getting to know her, I learned she attends the high school where my friend Tiffany worked before her surprising and abrupt death at the end of last summer.

Recall that I'd mentioned that there was not a dry eye in the house at her well-attended funeral.  One of the reasons for that was the opening with a rendition of "Hallelujah" the acapella choir group from the school performed.  They really nailed it.

Their choir director shared a 1-minute video later, of them warming up.  It's plenty grainy enough to not worry about identifying anyone...

 Not the best audio, but still lovely.  Give a listen to the start of it via this [link] for a taste.

So often, we hear stories about "kids these days!".  No respect, no discipline, lazy...

But as the student and I reminisced a bit, I was taken back to that morning in the church at Tiffany's funeral as those kids made everyone cry big cleansing tears.

Test day, here we come.