This is about the fourth time I’ve opened up a blank document in the last 12 or so hours, just trying – trying – to figure out a way to put what I experienced last night into words… into a story that brings you there with me. A story where you yourself can see the glow seeping through the stained glass windows, hear the strings, brass, and piano melt into one, and feel the energy of what it is to witness a dream unfolding before your very eyes.
I think it’s funny how life plays out…
In the paragraphs to come, it may feel as though I am pulling you in a million different directions, but I promise you – I challenge you, actually – to find the common theme, because I assure you…
There is one.
So as details swirl around my mind, freezing my fingers above the keys, I guess like any story does, I shall start at the beginning – how I ended up in a room of magic last night…
About a week and a half ago I posted a video on several different social media platforms looking for guys in the Nashville area willing to volunteer their time and model for me for an upcoming business venture. When I first put the video up, it was slow to be seen… Although I knew there was no guarantee that my attempt would work, I’ve always been someone who’s going to try – even if it doesn’t quite work… Better to have tried than to not, right?
As I came home from work that evening and checked the progress, it was still slow… I felt a little embarrassed and considered taking it down.
I told myself – I was proud of myself for trying, but it was seeming to be a failed attempt, and that was okay. But there was this little voice inside of me – scolding myself, actually… I was embarrassed because a video didn’t get a lot of views and likes, or reach the crowd I was hoping for…? So what…? I was embarrassed?!
Not allowed.
So I kept it up.
Within a couple of hours, the comments began to pile in…
By the next morning, I had over 50 messages with interest in volunteering. That night, the messages had grown to over 150.
In the last week and a half, I have been in an extreme state of wonderment and disbelief at what has unfolded. New opportunities, connections, and friends have been abundant – all because I decided to swallow my pride, risk “embarassment”, and take a chance.
One message in particular came from a local musician. Although the modeling slots I had been initially looking for were filled, we connected regardless. A few days later, I received a message so graciously inviting me to attend their live album recording at Ocean Way Nashville Studios.
And that brings us to last night…
On Friday, October 23, Absolute Silence recorded their album Begin Again live, with an audience of around 100 people. There were strings, brass, choirs, music legends, and teams of all backgrounds who came together to make a dream happen. We were told of the 5am bedtimes the week leading up to this moment, and the stroll that occurred one year ago, through the venue that was now filled with people. It wasn’t even my dream, and sitting in that room, I felt like I could’ve cried for a week – overcome with a certain kind of joy that seeps out when you witness somebody else achieve.
If you think the story ends there… it doesn’t.
You remember those directions I mentioned earlier – and how you were going to get pulled in a few of them? Brace yourself… storyline pivot incoming.
I spent the first few months of this year working on a vision that has yet to come to life, but mark my words… it will. To maintain a fair element of surprise, I will keep it vague for now – but an interest sparked by volunteering at the juvenile detention center every Tuesday, I began my research on the foster care system. I didn’t know much – only really an idea, and even then, because I was so unfamiliar with foster care, I spent January through March doing research to educate myself as much as I could before pursuing. Knowing it was a space to be handled with extra care, I forced myself into nerve wrecking calls where I openly admitted I was there to be educated – to expand my knowledge, rather than bulldoze through an unfamiliar and fragile space with an idea that I didn’t even know would work or be appropriate.
And just as life goes, the roller coaster of this year took a little detour – placing one of my many visions on a back burner – not cold, just warm… perhaps just waiting to boil until next year.
So, what on Earth does that have to do with anything?
Well, when I was initially invited to attend last night, I was informed that on top of the recording, this was also a ginormous fundraiser for an organization connected to foster care… Little did they know, when I looked at my calendar for 2026 back in January, I had planned for October to be the month I was aiming to debut what’s now been pushed to next year’s agenda. Nevertheless, I couldn’t help but recognize that this theme was returning back into my life, and in the same exact month I had intended for it to be the focal point.
Last night I learned about the Isaiah 117 House – and let me just say, if we were able to add more hours into a day, I would already have signed myself up to be a volunteer.
I learned of a new step of the foster care system that for years had been neglected before Ronda Paulson founded this non-profit organization – a safe and comfortable transition space for kids when they are initially removed. A place that makes kids feel loved and are reminded that what is happening to them is not their fault. Just sitting here writing about it now makes my computer screen in front of me a little blurry – it was hard to not burst out in tears as we were told a story of a 14 year old who admitted that the first time he’d ever actually felt safe in his entire life was at the Isaiah 117 House. 14 years.
All of these (what may seem) random and sporadic stories aside, there is a connection point that brings this all together.
Yesterday morning, just prior to attending this experience, I listened to a podcast where Shaan Puri introduced the idea below –
“You cannot connect the dots looking forward… Only in retrospect does it make sense how it all connected.”
And as I sat in amazement last night – tears pooled in my eyes and my cheeks burning from being unable to wipe the smile from my face while experiencing the magic of the night – I couldn’t help but feel, or in a way actually know, that I was exactly where I was meant to be. I was meant to be sitting in that room last night – to learn of this new organization and be exposed to a new band with a sound unlike any I’ve ever heard before.
The dots were connecting.
And although the final picture isn’t finished yet (and never really will be), I found a lot of comfort in last night.
As I returned to my apartment and sat in the silence, I was overwhelmed with emotion. I don’t know what’s next, and for a long time that’s stressed me out – and sometimes still does. But if I had moved away from Nashville a year ago, or didn’t resign my lease a month ago, and if I ended up deleting that video last week out of fear of embarrassment… I never would’ve been sitting in that room last night. I never would’ve made the new friend that I now have after just a few message exchanges.
So even when it’s hard, and really scary, and seems really directionless… I challenge you to trust that each experience – each moment – is a new dot contributing to the bigger picture you will one day sit in disbelief about. Even if you don’t believe it for yourself, I believe it for you –
And I hope one day you do too.
