For as long as I can remember, I have always been in love with music. From childhood through every minute I’ve spent with you up till now, music always found its way into our story; instilled into my memories of you.

My mother was made from everything beautiful about music. Her singing, her ukulele playing, her musical heart and soul . . . it reflected from within and spread like warm sunshine on a tranquil beach in Hawaii. My father was musical as well, but only in his own mind; and because of that we loved it even more when he played the ukulele, for the smiles and playful moments it gave us were just as powerful as the warmth and beauty of listening to my mother sing. I know not where my talents lie in comparison to those two amazing souls who loved me more than I ever deserved; but I do think I fall between the spectrum of both. I can play a little, I can sing a little, but I only play and sing for me.

I have an older brother who breathes music just as much as I, if not even more, and I thank him for exposing me to everything he listened to while we were growing up. I thank him for his obsession with Top Forty Hits, his collection of singles and albums, and especially for leaving them behind when he went off to college. I played some of those records more than he ever would have wanted me to, probably just as much as he suspected I did, and I will always be grateful for that.

During the summer months as a teenager, my best friend and I would hang out and listen to music as she recorded the songs from radio to cassette tapes. We loved our music back then, and even until this day. Recently during one of her trips back home, we spent quite some time playing music videos for each other and guessing the songs that played. We reminisced, we laughed, we giggled like the teenagers we were back then; musical moments of fun from the past, bringing us much laughter and joy to this day.

And then there was you. You enhance everything I love about music, and music enhances everything I feel about you.

As a teenager there was a song I played over and over on my piano, almost every day, because of how it made me feel. I didn’t know you at the time, but playing that song inspired and enhanced my journey. It made me hope, it made me feel, it made me faithfully believe that I would someday find my way to you.

And then I did, many times over; unleashing a flood of songs — our songs — throughout my mind, body, heart and soul, for the remainder of my journey.