live in love.

The Royal Pitches, UB's all-female acapella group, performing at UB's remembrance ceremony for the victims of the crash of Flight 3407. Photograph by Robert Kirkham- Buffalo News

Here on campus, I’m a cast member of a small musical, an alto in the University Chorus, and a member of the Royal Pitches- I’m almost never not singing at some point during my day.  However, the drudgery and monotony of rehearsals and meetings make it easy to forget why I sing, why I put my heart, voice, and GPA on the line day after day.  Performing at UB’s remembrance ceremony on Tuesday with the Royal Pitches reminded me why I sing and why, while the rest of my life has been constantly changing, music has always been there for me, and has remained, unchangingly, the principal love of my life.

The audience we sang for on Tuesday was entirely unique.  As much of an honor as it was to sing at the service, I hope I never have to perform for an audience like this again.  On nearly every occasion up until Tuesday, the audiences I’ve performed attended the event for entertainment, or perhaps, more accurately, obligation.  However, the audience we performed came to the service looking for comfort and healing.  Music has given me so much strength throughout my life, and it was both exhilarating and terrifying to attempt to comfort these devastated people in any small way that we could.  It felt as if, for that brief moment, we were holding their battered hearts in our hands, and so we did the only thing we could think to do- we sang.

Buffalo, like any place in the wake of a tragedy, is moving on.  Storefront signs have stopped stating their condolences and have started advertising their products once again.  Pieces of the plane are being moved off-site and soon (hopefully), residents near the crash site will be able to return to their homes.  Soon, flags will no longer fly at half-mast, and local news’ top story will change.  Buffalo will never forget, but it moves on, as life makes us all do.  And so, in the spirit of the ones we lost who were once very much alive, this blog will go back to being about my mundane life and joys, living every day with the knowledge that life is bearable and it goes on.

Thank you, Buffalo.  Thank You, God.