I found myself thinking this morning about early influences and inspirations and how they all come together over time to make us who we are. The visual that I have today is of an “archeological dig” within my being – where the the layers of ideas and experiences pile on top of each other and form a unique whole.

The video below is one of my earliest influences leading to the discovery of writing for piano – “Thanksgiving” from George Winston’s piano CD, December. Very good friends of our family, in fact, my Godfather and his wife, gave me this CD when I was a teenager, right at the time I was starting my first church job (in their church, ironically).  As time passes, much of the music I found so powerful and moving in the past seems less powerful, yet this once piece remains one of those that I simply must stop and take in. It is so beautiful, it hurts!