Play It Forward

Home again, home again; no place like home again. 1,200 miles is long, but a year might be longer.

Last night some friends and I headed up to Austins Coffee, one of my absolute favorite destinations in the Orlando area. Every Tuesday is open mic, which I would frequent as often as possible during my year in town. There is a wide variety of tastes and styles, so you're bound to hear something you'd like. And whatever you don't like, you might hear that, too.

One of my favorite parts about Austins is that there are always friends there. Not close friends, but friends linked by common interest. I got to see Spencer Beasley, Tre Hester, and my married friends from Dirty Soap. I remembered Greg and his wife since they shopped at George's Music (my former job) and played at Austins where we always shared conversation. What I didn't remember is the story Greg shared with me:

"I remember the first time I met you. I was shopping at George's for some stuff and I remember talking to one of the guys about recording some music. They were like, 'Oh, that's cool.'

"Then you came by and asked if I was playing out anywhere and I said I didn't know of any place that we could play our music, so you said, 'Go to Austins,' and gave me your card and the info.

"Now we've been going there every week that we can for about two years, just because you wanted to help me out. Now we tell people all the time. It's really cool. So, thanks."

Really? Like, really, really? I didn't even remember they went to Austins because of me. And crazier, I actually changed someone's weekly schedule, and their lives because they never performed before, and now they do all the time.

It was refreshing to hear some of their renditions of Christmas songs last night. I turned to someone and said about the coffee shop, "You don't know what you've got here." After a sour note, he gave me a sarcastic glance, and I knew he understood.

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