Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Birthday Tribute to my Favorite Singer

I know I have spent the last few days away from my music topic. Enjoy while it lasts.. haha!!




I want to give honor to a lifelong friend.

Happy Birthday to one of the sweetest people on the planet...Tishauna!! She is a true blue, loyal, Godly, talented, and beautiful friend. I am so glad we are friends. We've had so many fun times together. I began thinking about all fun Tishauna taught me to have and that taking risks can actually be worth while sometimes.

Here's an example, I was scared to sing when we were little, and she had NO FEAR. Once she sang in the kids choir, I figured she survived so I guess I would too. It was worth facing my fears. HAHA She taught me how to "live" a little. =) She was the daredevil (in a good way) and I was more cautious.

I remember Bro.Olivan at Junior Camp telling me I had to play the piano and sing. I was soooo scared. Tishauna told me I could do it and even offered to help me sing. The only thing I knew how to play in my age of 8 repertoire was "We Need the Rain" by Nancy Grandquist. So me and Tishauna sang and I played. My foot shook on the pedal the entire time.

She got me to ride my first roller coaster ride at Great America. It was called "The Demon." I was scared to death but she rode it and survived so I guess I would too. =) And it was worth it.



I remember when I had the "Camper of the Week" award coming my way (unknown to us at the time) at Junior Camp in Paradise, CA that she got me to sneak out the last night. I missed out on the award but didn't miss out on some great fun and it was worth it. (I'll keep the readers guessing where they found us (Nell, hush!! ). LOL. We were good kids so our trouble was pretty pathetic to some people's standards. haha.

I remember the time me, Tishauna and Cameron (her brother) went bike riding and made a big circle through the neighborhood behind their house and came out on Elk Grove Blvd. I'll never forget Cameron thought he could beat us home (he was actually going to but I was too competitive to admit it) and he passed us although we were sure pedalling fast. He got past the intersection but missed the ramp going onto the sidewalk and hit the curb dead on. We made the ramp and looked back to see Cameron hanging over a Dentist sign with his feet still connected to his bike. I never laughed so hard in my life to see the sight I beheld that day. I cried laughing all the way to their house.

Then there was the sleepovers and everything past midnight is funny. What sweet memories: Clean Teens, Kick the Bucket, Cow-a-bunga with Ginny Wilbourn, perfume all over jr.camp floor, barbies, candy picnics, "gymnastics" with Aunt Vicki, pumpkin patch, roof-born trampoline fun, tree houses 30+ feet up... the fun never ends.

Then... there was Matt!!! =( Jk Matt. We were 14 and at Junior camp. Me and Tishauna had to bunk on the top bunk together because we crammed too many of our girls into one room (I think there were 7 of us and there were only 2 bunk beads). It was the last night and no one could go to sleep because we kept talking. I think Janelly even remembers that night. HAHA Finally, Tishauna kicked her feet over the side of the bed, sat up, and asked all of us, "So what do you think about Matt?" I'll never forget that quote as long as I live. I totally thought she was out of her mind. Matt hung out with older young people and was not even someone she EVER talked about. I wanted to make sure it wasn't one of the Matts at camp or somewhere else. I found out it was THE Matt Jones. Ahhhh my life was over. No more sneaking out of cabins. No more goofy pranks. No more sleep overs. On her 17th birthday, Matt proposed and she got married halfway through her 17th year. I was soooooo happy ... and sad too. It was very bittersweet for me. She couldn't have got a better guy.


We did continue to sing together. A new layer of our friendship emerged once we got older and began singing together even more. She is an incredible singer, voice instructor, and is able to blend with any voice. I mentioned it in a post last year, but I will reiterate how special it was to be able to sing together with her when she came to visit us last year.

Aside from music, it has been a treasure to have a friend who taught me how to have fun. I Love you sooo much and will always treasure every memory. Happy Birthday Tishauna!!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TISH!!! I agree with Von, I will never forget that question "So, what do you think about Matt?"(this was followed by a fits of laughter :) Oh what fun we had that year!

I hope you have the BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!!! Love you Tish :)

Amy~

P.S Von~ I LOVE you, too! Give Noah hugs and kisses from his auntie Amy. See you soon.

Music Eloquence said...

Hi Amy... what a sweet surprise to hear from you. Wasn't that a great year? We had tons of fun... even as crowded as it was. I was trying to remember who all was with us... you, me, Janell, Tish, Erika? my mind goes blank... I just remember we brought two twin mattresses into the room at night so we could squeeze more in. We were crazy!! But it was a blast!!

Jana Allard said...

Awwww......what a sweet tribute to your friend. She is all you said.

Music Eloquence said...

Sis.Allard, I didn't even come close to saying all I wanted to. But yes, she is all that and more.. a really incredible friend.

Janell said...

AWWWWW Happy Birthday to Tishauna!!!! I've been a little help-up from getting here to BloggerLand, but I was so happy to read this post....Tishauna is one of the coolest, most special people in the whole world. She's one of the people who seems so PERFECT, all of the time; know what I'm sayin?? I remember going to her house when I was little and her curling my hair and Tonya's and I just felt amazingly beautiful. LOL! I loved Clean Teens at their old house, and having orange peel fights with her mom. And every time she opens her mouth to sing everyone who hears her is just spellbound...I'm sure she will get a great reward in Heaven someday, becaue if she chose to, Tishauna could be in the big lights in no time at all and put Carrie Underwoood and the likes to shame. Seriously! But anyway, the famous "what do you think about Matt?" quote will forever be in my mind too. I think that was the night that she and I sat on the floor laughing our heads off and drinking Mountain Dew, till Vondeleigh was calling us through the window to pull her up. (After we had all snuck out) I just thought Tishauana had the funniest sense of humor and it became a joke that weekend about Matt...until suddenly I realized they were DATING! It was amazing...she seemed just like my kid-friend, but love can be mysterious. They are such a beautiful family though, their kids are SOOOOOOOOOOo cute! It's so funny to read this post, because Tish just the other night at church mentioned the Matt thing to me and we cracked up laughing. Tishauna, if you read this, I love you tons and thank you for being such a wonderful person even though we don't get to hang out anymore. I still think you're awesome and hope you had the best birthday EVER!!!! xoxo!

Anonymous said...

I am completely overwhelmed at all the nice things you all said about me. Thank you VondeLeigh, Amy, Sis. Allard, and Janell for all the kind words. I did have and interesting birthday to say the least. Stayed up all night taking care of sick kids. From 11:00 at night till 6:00 in the morning my two younger boys literally were "up chucking" all night long! A birthday to remember that's for sure!
I do love and miss my dear friend VondeLeigh!! I cried when I read your tribute, it was so sweet! You are my absolute favorite singer!!!! Can't wait to see you again!!!

Tishauna

Music Eloquence said...

Janell... it wasn't me getting pulled through the window because I remember pulling someone in through the window. LOL Oh my goodness, you've ever spurred more memories. What fun we had. We were out of our minds on a major "sugar high" that night. HAHA. No I didn't sneak out the first time (I was too scared of getting in trouble... lol). But I remember a bunch of the girls (Tish included) coming back and saying "C'mon, we didn't get caught. You won't get caught if you just ACT like you know what your doing." Tishauna finally persuaded me to go out. We even saw Bro.Thorson (camp administrator) and I freaked. Tish just kept telling me, "Just act like you're supposed to be out here. Don't run. Just calmly walk over to the Administration building." So that's what I did, or we did. No when I came back into the room that night, it was with Sis.Thorson (Ahhhhh!!!) through the cabin doorway. hahaha It was hysterical!

Tishauna, You're welcome! You are a riot!! And I love you for it! I have made more funny stories with you than anyone else. We've shared and bared our hearts, we've shared some mountains and some valleys and through it all been the best of friends cause "friends are friends forever..." Love you.