Unexpected Joy

Tonight, we had our good friends, the Gomez family, over for dinner. I made Jose's favorite, lemon chicken stir-fry. It was a simple meal but we set the table with the nice dishes (as opposed to our usual paper plates), opened a bottle of wine, and bought some delicous bread to serve with dinner. Joe couldn't join us for dinner as he was still working. Matthew was out with friends.



This is an old photo of Joe when he first
got his guitar. Taken in April, 2008.



The unexpected moments of joy came later in the evening. One of their daughters, Sky, has learned to play the guitar. At 12, she loves singing and has a good voice. She now has a weekly lesson with a professional vocal coach who has encouraged her to practice playing and singing in front of others. So she brought her guitar. She sang a Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus song for us in her sweet voice. I loved her confidence. Then Joe came out of his room (he'd come home a bit earlier), and we encouraged him to play something for us. He said he didn't want to sing and so we encouraged him to just play for us. He played a bit of a Neil Young song and then said he would sing for us. So he sang and played. And afterwards, I asked him who the artist was who wrote that song. (Joe has a very eclectic music collection and I don't know all of his favorite artists). He stunned me when he said that HE was the songwriter. It was beautiful. Then, inspired by our reaction, he played another song he had written. The words moved me and I sat back and just soaked it up, wholly present in the moment.

You see, Joe is overall a very shy young man. He is very much the introvert. Sitting there in my living room, surrounded by my family and dear friends, I felt a tremendous peace and just joy. Joy that this was my son, sharing part of his heart so openly with me. I know it sounds really corny but I really felt like I had received a gift when he played for us. Unexpected joy...a memory I want to treasure in my heart.