and we will continue singing

This past Tuesday night my daughter Brianna woke me up at 3am.  She had just received a call from her very close friend Savannah letting her know that Savannah's boyfriend and Brianna's good friend Marco had died.  Marco was the young man who died in the boating accident, which has received a lot of news coverage this week.  He graduated this past June with Brianna and received a full scholarship to the University of the Fraser Valley.  He was an amazing musician and a fun-loving personality.  I had the joy of having Marco play with me this summer at the Mission Folk Festival.  I had asked him what he was going to wear for our gig and he asked me what he should wear.  I said - just be yourself.  So, he got excited and decided to wear his hair in a Mohawk.  Marco was a great person to be around, relaxed, funny and easy to talk to - no matter what age you were.

As many of you know, the song Love Shines played a powerful role when my nephew Christian died just over one year ago.  I was about to record Love Shines as a single when Chris died.  I didn't know how I could record this song - how could I sing about love shining?  So, I cancelled the recording.  But then I thought about Chris and his life and how he would have been so mad at me for cancelling doing something that I loved.  And I looked into the face of my brother and his wife - and I realized I did see love shining - in them.  And so I recorded that song and gave it all I had.  And then I sang it for the 1500 people that came to Chris's funeral.

Marco did not know any of this to my knowledge.  But Love Shines was one of the songs I had sent him to practice for our set at the Mission Folk Festival.  On the night that he died, his mom went to his laptop and opened it up.  What was on the screen was the lyrics/chord chart for Love Shines.  It was the last thing that Marco looked at on his computer and what his mom found in that horrible moment.
I am overwhelmed how this song came to this family in the middle of such utter agony.  Marco's memorial will be a concert at Heritage Park next Sunday at 2pm.  There are many musicians coming to honour Marco and his memory.  Marco's mom has asked me to sing Love Shines.
Love does shine in our deepest darkness.
Love shines in moments we cannot comprehend.
Love shines beyond our agony.
Love shines.
Marco - I will sing for you.
Chris - I will sing for you.

and we will continue singing

This past Tuesday night my daughter Brianna woke me up at 3am.  She had just received a call from her very close friend Savannah letting her know that Savannah's boyfriend and Brianna's good friend Marco had died.  Marco was the young man who died in the boating accident in the interior of BC, which has received a lot of news coverage this week.  He graduated this past June with Brianna and Savannah and received a full scholarship to the University of the Fraser Valley.  He was an amazing musician and a fun-loving personality.  I had the joy of having Marco play with me this summer at the Mission Folk Festival.  I had asked him what he was going to wear for our gig and he asked me what he should wear?  I said - just be yourself.  So, he got excited and decided to wear his hair in a Mohawk...what fun.  Marco was a great person to be around, relaxed, funny and easy to talk to - no matter what age you were.

As many of you know, the song Love Shines played a powerful role when my nephew Christian died just over one year ago.  I was about to record Love Shines as a sing when Chris died.  I didn't know how I could record this song - how could I sing about love shining?  So, I cancelled the recording.  But then I thought about Chris and his life and how he would have been so mad at me for cancelling doing something that I loved.  And I looked into the face of my brother and his wife - and I realized I did see love shining - in them.  And so I recorded that song and gave it all I had.  And then I sang it for the 1500 people that came to Chris's funeral.

Marco did not know any of this to my knowledge.  But Love Shines was one of the songs I had sent him to practice for our set at the Mission Folk Festival.  On the night that he died, his mom went to his laptop and opened it up.  What was on the screen was the lyrics/chord chart for Love Shines.  It was the last thing that Marco looked at on his computer and what his mom found in that horrible moment.

I am overwhelmed how this song came to this family in the middle of such utter agony.  Marco's memorial will be a concert at Heritage Park next Sunday at 2pm.  There are many musicians coming to honour Marco and his memory.  Marco's mom has asked me to sing Love Shines.
Love does shine in our deepest darkness.
Love shines in moments we cannot comprehend.
Love shines beyond our agony.
Love shines.
Marco - I will sing for you.
Chris - I will sing for you.

Looking Up

photography by revival art studio rastudio.ca

Yesterday we looked up 

It was the one year anniversary of the 

passing of Christian Friesen, my nephew 

and a few of us gathered at the cemetery to 

place his ashes in a beautiful wall, called Dogwood.

Instead of hanging our heads in sorrow, 

we released balloons and 

looked up.

It was a sign of hope

A choice

to keep going-

to have faith in tomorrow

to keep dreaming-

to LIVE.

Yesterday was also a celebration of a birth

....I picked up 2000 copies of Love Shines !!

My goal was to have it ready by March 25 

so I could give the first copy to 

my brother and his wife...

and that happened.

Love Shines in the middle of our darkness

Love Shines is a CD filled with hope. 

I'm so excited to share this with everyone.......

soon.....

April 16th - come to the 

CD Release Concert- 

and celebrate LIFE with me.

you.....are on my mind


February 24 - yesterday.  Was and is a big date now for the Hardy family.  3 years ago yesterday, my nephew Trevor was killed...   hit by a drunk driver.  He was just approaching his 19th b-day.We gathered last night at his parents, Stephanie and Arwit Dueck to celebrate his life and remember him. It was a great time.  But of course filled with pain as well.  


And today....February 25 is the 11th month anniversary of the death of my nephew Christian, 17 years old...son of my brother Randy and his wife Ingrid.  We are approaching the 1 year in March and part of me can't believe that he has been gone this long. 


For both of these families, they have had to face shocking loss, unbearable grief and the choice of how to now live.  To choose LIFE in the midst of such sadness and loss takes incredible courage and dignity and strength.  To observe this in people you love is truly inspiring.


The question has come to me - how will you then live?  How will we all live?
There is a quote by St. Irenaeus that has come to reside deep within me - 


'The glory of God is a human being fully alive'


To be fully alive is perhaps the best answer I can give....to choose to be present, to choose life, to choose gratefulness, to choose to take risks in following dreams and passions...to fully live....is how I can say to these two boys I love.......Trevor & Chris.....you are on my mind

Love Shines

Song Stories #5

Sing a Song

Many people in the Lower Mainland have been aware in the past few weeks of the sudden death of Myron Berg due to the traffic accident that happened just after Christmas. I knew Myron from working at House of James Bookstore over 20 years ago. We worked together for one year - he was the 'cool' guy in the music department. Then about 4 years ago, we reconnected when I started teaching 3 of his children music lessons; Lauren, Bryn and Taeryn. I got to know Gillian and the whole family for around 2 years and enjoyed quite a few musical events together.

I wasn't going to put this song, Sing a Song, on the album but then two things happened - one was celebrating the 18th birthday of Christian Friesen on January 14, my nephew who died last March and being aware of the Berg family as they mourn the passing of Myron. (funeral for Myron tomorrow, Jan 21) I realized again that so many of us experience death as a part of the life we are living now. We are all holding someone in our hearts that has passed one. I sang the song for Philip as a last minute possibility and he said YES - let's do it.

When another nephew, Trevor Dueck, died 3 years ago, I created a Service of Remembrance ...a musical evening to help us honour and remember loved ones who have died. On the 2nd year of this concert, when I was cleaning up after that evening, the reality of my own passing became more clear. That night I could not sleep and wrote these words, only to sing them before 1500 people a few months later when Chris died. I also sang them at a Haiti Memorial Fundraiser concert after the earthquake.

As I recorded the song today , my heart went out to the Berg family as they release Myron and love him. My heart sings for Chris, my beloved nephew....my brother Randy and his wife Ingrid and their son Max who are journeying through this grief.

These words are now part of the Love Shines CD project.....

here is an excerpt:

excerpt from

Sing A Song....

sometimes I think about that day

when I'll have wings and fly away

to a place I've never been

never known, never seen

It is a mystery, this life

one day I'm here and then I'm gone

and when that day, it comes for me

I ask that you would sing a song......

sing a song from your heart

through the veil from which I've part

sing a song that is true

and I'll sing ....back to you....

excerpt from Sing a Song from the upcoming Love Shines CD

Song Stories for Love Shines

#2

Courage For Today

I love so many different genres of music. As a child I was exposed to a lot of classical music as my mom listened to CBC radio 2. Often I would lie down on the carpet and let the music wash over me as I listened deeply...even when I was 5 or 6. My parents also enjoyed a lot of 'gospel' music so I heard a lot of 4 part harmonies and traditional choral sounds. In my youth I learned to love jazz music, pop music and gained more appreciation for classical music. Through my twenties and through living in Uganda for 2 years, I was exposed to traditional folk music and ethnic sounds. I have loved learning about all these sounds and how these different genres can express so many of our human emotions and experiences better than we can with our words.

I am not a strong blues piano player, but I do love the blues and had fun learning the basic 12 bar pattern a few years ago and passing that on to many students.

A couple years ago I realized that the blues really hold a wonderful tension between major and minor tonalities and feel 'honest' about expressing what it is to be human.

This summer around a campfire at Alice Lake near Whistler, BC, my friend Kendra asked me how I was doing with grieving the loss of my dear nephew Chris. Chris died on March 25, 2010. He was a very special nephew to me - one that I could punch (even though he was MUCH stronger than me) and tease. He was passionate about life and was fun to be with. I loved him fiercely. When Kendra asked me that, I had no words.

How do you express how you feel?

Words feel cheap

and empty.

I said Kendra - I have nothing to say - but I can sing a song.

So I asked Nathan (Kendra's husband) to get his guitar and start playing the blues.....

and this is an excerpt of the song I sang

Courage for Today

My heart, my heart

is heavy

My heart is heavy with burdens

Strengthen me,

Give me courage for today

My soul, my soul

is weary

My soul is weary with sorrow

Strengthen me,

Give me courage for today

(excerpt from 'Courage for Today' to be released on Love Shines)

Chris's birthday is this Friday, January 14th. Loving you buddy!!