Several extraordinary things happened to me in 2025.
I. My High School Honors Me
In July, I went to my 50th high school reunion, where I was announced
as an alumni award winner and paraded around like a beauty queen:
And then in November, I came back to receive the award and had the
incredible privilege of addressing the current high school students
for ten minutes. So this is me trying to compress what I've learned
in the last 50 years into ten minutes:
II. The Most Beautiful Music I Was Ever Part Of
In June I went to Interlochen Arts Institute for a weeklong adult
choir camp. I sang with over 100 wonderful singers, about a quarter
of them professionals, and held my own. I even got a brief
highlighted portion that starts at around 1:01:00 in the video you'll
see if you click on this picture:
Update July 2026: I did it again! You can find the 2026
concert
here.
We performed one of my all time favorite pieces, Elaine Hagenberg's
"There Was a Time," which starts at 26:55. This was actually the
third time I performed this piece, which gave me great comfort after
my daughter's sudden death. The first time I performed it, I wrote
this blog piece about what it meant to me. (I also thought we tenors
really shined on the Copland, starting at 40:40.)
III. My New Career As a Pharmaceutical Model
In July, Bristol Squibb invited me and Trina to an all day photo shoot
for advertisements for my miracle drug. It's all print, no video, but
there are two pieces, which you can see by clicking on the images
below. Note that the second story also talks about my singing in Interlochen!
In December, while I was sick enough with the flu to feel like I was dying, I got a
preview of my obituary! Someone I didn't even know wrote an
unsolicited tribute to me
