After graduation, I began teaching piano and opened an in-home studio called Joyfully In Tune. The Lord blessed me with over thirty wonderful students who filled my studio with joy, laughter, music, and lasting relationships. Even now, one of my greatest delights is following their lives and witnessing all the Lord is doing through them.
While teaching, I continued my music studies through correspondence with the International Academy of Music. I soon discovered that Advanced Principles of Harmony would be my nemesis, but conducting was a blast, and Concert Choir quickly became one of my favorite classes.
I auditioned for and was accepted into the Birmingham Concert Chorale, the official chorus of the Alabama Symphony Orchestra. I enjoyed three seasons with the Chorale, and weekly rehearsals became a highlight of my week. Being surrounded by some of Alabama’s top musicians thrilled my heart. We performed four concerts each season, including masterpieces like Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Great Mass in C Minor, Duruflé’s Requiem, Bach’s Magnificat, and hometown favorites like Annie Get Your Gun. We even had the privilege of performing at Carnegie Hall in New York City. What a fantastic experience!
Shortly after graduation, I began experiencing severe pelvic pain. After consulting multiple gynecologists, an exploratory surgery was scheduled, leading to the devastating diagnosis of Stage 4 Endometriosis. At just eighteen years old, I was told I needed a complete hysterectomy, but doctors were hesitant due to the unknown long-term effects of surgically induced menopause. Worse than that uncertainty was the heartbreaking reality that I would never be able to carry a child. The thought of losing my deeply-held dream of pregnancy, delivery, and motherhood was more than I could process. My medical team worked to slow the growth and spread of endometriosis, which included yearly laparoscopic excision surgeries. The extreme pain was relentless, and nausea was a constant companion. This is where I jokingly started earning my “personal pharmaceutical degree,” with my “med bag” becoming my constant companion as I navigated life with chronic, severe pain.
Though teaching music was lovely, the income and benefits eventually became insufficient. I accepted a position as Assistant Manager of a small multi-family apartment community. But I struggled with the demands of learning a new job, managing medical treatments, enduring constant pain and nausea, and maintaining relationships.
The five years from eighteen to twenty-three were filled with spiritual questioning and deep soul-searching. It was the beginning of my journey into the land of chronic illness. There were countless nights filled with tears as I begged the Lord to heal me. “Let me be a mother! Let me birth and teach the next generation about You! Take the pain away, Lord. Do an only-God-thing for me!”
But He didn’t.
My treatments failed, and my medical team informed me that a complete hysterectomy was my only option. I remember leaving the office in a daze, unable to grasp the reality. My heart ached to be a mother. What if I never felt a child grow inside me? What if I never heard a little voice say “mama”? What if my deepest desire was terminal? And what if medically induced menopause caused more health issues down the road? As I drove home through a storm of tears, shattered dreams, and unknowns, these questions thundered in my head.
On a cold January day, my parents solemnly drove me to the hospital for my scheduled procedure. The magnitude of this event wasn’t lost on any of us. My parents ached for their daughter, and the turmoil inside me felt like a typhoon of destruction in my soul. After praying with my pastor and deacons in pre-op holding, my father walked beside my gurney toward the operating room. As we neared the double doors, Daddy bent over me and whispered, “I will be with you on this journey. Your mom and I are in this with you. You’re not alone.”
The days of recovery were long and somber. Not only was my physical body healing from major surgery, but my heart was also still bleeding from a deep wound. Years after my abdomen had healed, my heart remained battered. I felt betrayed by the Savior who said He would never leave me. But I wasn’t.
In the spring of my twenty-fourth year, I flew to Texas to interview for a live-in nanny position. A few weeks later, I loaded up my little car and moved to western Texas! I quickly fell in love with my little charge and cherished every minute. The Lord led me to a small Baptist church where I served as the pianist. (I had been the pianist at my home church in Alabama for almost five years, and it felt like “home” to be back on the piano bench.) I only spent eleven short months in Texas, but I made lasting friendships during that time, which helped shape me into the person I am today.
Upon returning home, the Lord brought me my dream job with a company I had long wanted to join. It marked the beginning of what I thought would be a lifelong career in multifamily property management. These were some of the busiest and most stress-filled years of my career, but I learned so much and truly enjoyed what I did each day! These years hold special memories of commuting to work with my father. We lived about 40 miles from the city and spent two hours in the car daily. Coffee and chats with Dad kept me sane during those long work hours!
During these chaotic but wonderful years, I welcomed my first foreign exchange student into my home and heart. Mii from Thailand quickly became a beloved part of my family. Oh, how I treasure the memory of those days. Embracing another culture brought a new dimension to my life. We talked for hours and had many deep conversations. It was my honor to share Jesus Christ with her as she learned who He was, His gift of salvation, and His unconditional love for her—for the first time. Mii is now a physician in her home country, and thanks to modern technology, we stay in touch.
Mii planted in me a love for international cultures. She gave me a taste of sharing Jesus Christ with someone who truly hadn’t heard His name. That lit a small fire in my heart that would soon ignite and send me to the other side of the world.
Nipon, anyone?