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One minute can change your life.
Finishing up the transformation of my home office today, I came across a frame Lisa made for me over fourteen years ago.
The silver finish is a little tarnished, but the engraving at the bottoms has those words engraved as a reminder of how quickly life can change for the worse…or the better.
Inside the picture frame is my first invitation to play at the Bluebird Cafe Songwriter’s Night in Nashville.
For nearly three months before I auditioned for the chance to get the invitation, my day was filled with one minute practice sessions.
You have one minute to capture the attention of the judges to get that invite.
One minute to show them your heart and soul with just a voice and guitar.
One minute to tell them a story that touches their heart with words and music.
By the time I got to the audition day, that one minute was reflexive.
My hands were shaking before the audition, but I kept hearing Dublin’s voice whispering ‘do it daddy.’
Less than a year before that audition night I had the worst night of my life.
The night that I said goodbye to the only positive pregnancy beta we’d had up to that point.
We’d nicknamed that spirit “Dublin” because each test the pregnancy levels had doubled from a very low start.
After crying all those tears of sadness, a voice whispered to me to have more courage. More faith in myself.
That voice cheered me on to take that one minute gamble to audition for the Bluebird Cafe’s Songwriter’s night.
I knew it was a long shot. Many people auditioned three or four times before ever getting asked to appear on that stage.
But it had also been a long shot for Dublin to last as long as he did.
Lisa asked me how I did when I finished my one minute.
I couldn’t remember a thing.
That’s what made the invitation so special.
That one minute of audition was inspired by one minute of tragedy.
Then I opened up an envelope that shifted back to joy, as I learned I had made the cut.
That minute restored my faith
And that faith gave me the courage to believe in another minute that would come just a year later about 5pm in the afternoon on a rainy October day.
The minute I heard the cry of our six years in the making IVF baby.