This past Sunday, the youth handbell choir rang during the service at church. They did a wonderful job, and it made me think how much I miss having that in my life. This church has several adult choirs, and I am hoping to join one of them in the fall. Or at least be a substitute! I will have to do some research into that. But watching the youth choir ring brought back a lot of good memories for me.
As you know, ringing handbells was a part of my life for almost all of my time at FBC Monroe. For me, dealing with my own issues even at a young age, the choir represented several things for me. I was good. I was a very good ringer and that boosted my confidence. It also made me feel like I was giving back to my church in a way and that was important to me. And of course, I loved it and it's important to do things that you love.
Ringing in the youth choir gave me the chance to socialize with and get to know people I would not have otherwise. There's a huge gap between middle school and high school as far as hanging out goes but the members of the handbell choir were very welcoming. Elizabeth Evans, Suzanne and Brent Jewell, Kennon Blanton, Donna Pittman, Beverly Baker. They were all in high school when I joined the choir as a 6th grader. And they were great. I feel like we got to know each other in a way that I would not have had I not been in the choir. It was a wonderful sense of community. The first year I rang in the youth choir, we were under the leadership of Jim Reich so not only were we friendly, but we were also very disciplined and rang up to Jim's standards, which were very high.
I keep up with most of the people in the choir even today through social media and my letter writing. It was a good time in my life. I know I cannot go back but I can look towards the future and the hopes of ringing in a choir once again.
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