I'm Every Woman...

On Saturday, I was so saddened to hear about the death of Whitney Houston.  I know -I know - People are probably asking, why would I be sad I didn't even know her? I know - I am a dork too...I understand...

But the reason is- I found my voice in her music.  I remember singing "I Will Always Love You" for the first time in my best friend Michelle Miller's house, at a birthday party of hers with all of our friends at the time - Hallie Jaeger, another hometown friend of mine, took turns singing that song with our big voices.  I sang this song so much to my mom and to people - they were probably really sick of it :)

I remember being in my parents living room when I was younger, COUNTLESS TIMES, singing "I'm Every Woman" Or "When You Believe" by Ms. Houston and another great - Ms. Mariah Carey.

I remember putting on dances for my mom to "I Wanna Dance With Somebody."  I remember discussing with my mom numerous times how Whitney Houston had the best God-given voice ever to be heard.

The way she sang was with no effort - it was just perfect.  I know the later years of her life weren't the most memorable or desirable, but in all - She helped me find my belt in my voice - her music helped me realize I could sing with such power that I shouldn't hide it - I wanted to have her voice.

I had a dream - that if I ever made it to American Idol, I would sing "I'm Every Woman" with her on the stage.

I recently read a book for work about finding your strengths and focusing on those and making those your best attributes.  They used the example of Rudy, the Notre Dame Football player, and how he probably should never have been a football player because that was not one of his strengths - unlike Joe Montana who also played for Notre Dame and became one of the best quarterbacks of all time.  I was reflecting at this point of the book on how I could relate it to my life.  I looked at high school when I stopped playing soccer and started focusing on music.  Even though - Soccer was a love of mine - It wasn't my greatest strength - Singing and music were!  I know my dad was really bummed I stopped playing soccer, but I know in his deepest hearts, he knew I needed to focus on singing.

What I am trying to say here - is that because of singers like Whitney, Mariah, Billy Holiday, Etta James, Amy Grant :), Diana Ross, I fell in love with music and singing - it became my strength.

Ok Sorry for the lengthy post - but I just wanted to share my thoughts on the event....

Thank you for letting me share with you...

More to post soon on my trip to MPLS to visit one of my college besties - Megan!!!

xoxo Sarah