TOPIC: DARING TO MAKE A HUGE CHANGE
Katie's Peace Corps Song
| "The Rest of the Story" - Free Download |
When I asked Katie if she'd be open to my featuring her new song as Song of the Month this month, her reaction was utterly "Katie." Said she,
"WOO HOO!! HELL YES!! Thank you for asking.
That's like being asked to be a centerfold
or Employee of the Month!"
That's Katie for you--wide open, smart, sassy, lively and quirky in the most delightful of ways. I can't say Song of the Month has ever been compared to a centerfold shot before, but hey, I will take my compliments any way they fall out of the sky. So here we are with Katie's song.
"WOO HOO!! HELL YES!! Thank you for asking.
That's like being asked to be a centerfold
or Employee of the Month!"
That's Katie for you--wide open, smart, sassy, lively and quirky in the most delightful of ways. I can't say Song of the Month has ever been compared to a centerfold shot before, but hey, I will take my compliments any way they fall out of the sky. So here we are with Katie's song.
THE STORY
Sue and Mal came to me asking if I could create a song in honor of their daughter Katie's grand adventure. She had just left her job as a teacher in Denver and moved to China (yup!) to join the Peace Corps. As an added bonus, Katie has been a self-proclaimed "Anna Huckabee Tull" fan for the past ten years or so, and has purchased, I think, every single one of my albums.
I got lots of good, juicy data for the song from Sue and Mal themselves, as they were overflowing with twisty, fun examples of what makes Katie, Katie. Some of it I knew already, lots of it I learned. But the gears kicked into high when I went to Katie's Peace Corps website. It was bursting with all the smarts and wit and sweetness and curve-ball humor you can imagine, and I found myself tracking with her blog through her bounding and poignant good-byes to friends and family and life in the US right through the early phases of her entry into China and the world of the Peace Corps.
Sue and Mal came to me asking if I could create a song in honor of their daughter Katie's grand adventure. She had just left her job as a teacher in Denver and moved to China (yup!) to join the Peace Corps. As an added bonus, Katie has been a self-proclaimed "Anna Huckabee Tull" fan for the past ten years or so, and has purchased, I think, every single one of my albums.
I got lots of good, juicy data for the song from Sue and Mal themselves, as they were overflowing with twisty, fun examples of what makes Katie, Katie. Some of it I knew already, lots of it I learned. But the gears kicked into high when I went to Katie's Peace Corps website. It was bursting with all the smarts and wit and sweetness and curve-ball humor you can imagine, and I found myself tracking with her blog through her bounding and poignant good-byes to friends and family and life in the US right through the early phases of her entry into China and the world of the Peace Corps.
THE REST OF THE STORY (KATIE'S PEACE CORPS SONG)
By Anna Huckabee Tull
I got on a plane and I came here
Well hardly one damn thing is the same here
You take a whole wild life, you sell off the loose pieces and
Squeeze the rest into too few bags
You look back on the life that you’re leaving
Well good god, keep walking, keep breathing
Don’t forget where you've been, let the meaning seep in, but now
Carry it forward and keep moving doorward and
Open to rest of the story
And hold to the parts that feel real
And know that it’s the power and wonder and glory
I tell you it’s me: That’s what I’m gonna let myself be
Well it hits me, or rather it floors me
I’m not scared, not scared any more, see
Small shiver, slight breeze and I’m down on my knees
And I’m free to believe what I’m here to believe
And I came here to live what I’m missing
Teach a man how to fish and he’s fishing
I will hold out my hand in a whole different land
I will open my mind and I’ll find what I find ‘cause I’m
Open to rest of the story, and I’m
Holding to the parts that feel real
And I know that its the power and wonder and glory
I tell you it’s me: That's what I’m gonna let myself be
Now I don’t know what’s up in the road there
But I know that I’m going to go there
There’s a groove yet to find and I’m calling it mine
Watch me dance like a dervish and sing with a purpose
And sing with a purpose, and sing with a purpose I'm
Open to the rest of the story, and I’m
Holding and it’s feeling so real
And I’m flowing with power and wonder and glory
So glad to be me
So glad I let me set myself free…
(c) 2008 Anna Huckabee Tull
THE SONG
This song practically wrote itself. Katie's blog was ringing with words, concepts and feelings such that I pretty much shot like a bullet from her blog to my guitar and watched with wide eyes as the opening to the song showed up in one huge ready-to-roll chunk. I was fascinated with the way that the lyrics showing up were so completely specific to Katie, and yet also so fascinatingly universal to anyone who has ever taken a deep breath, taken a huge PLUNGE and thrown themselves, through sheer force of will, into the terror and the glory of a completely different life:
I got on a plane and I came here
Well hardly one damn thing is the same here
You take a whole wild life, you sell off the loose pieces
And squeeze the rest into too few bags
You look back on the life that you're leaving
Well good god, keep walking, keep breathing
Don't forget where you've been, let the meaning seep in
But now carry it forward and keep moving doorward and
Open to the rest of the story...
SHARING THE SONG: SURPRISE!!
Sue and Mal travelled to Hong Kong to meet up with Katie, and they came up with a totally unique and brilliant, if you ask me, way to present Katie's song to her. Katie's iPod had recently died, and with it she had lost, among other things, all of her "Anna Huckabee Tull music." Her parents had brought her a replacement iPod. As her mom handed it over to her, her dad mentioned that there was a song already on there. Then, as she looked down at the song and saw my name on it, her dad handed her the song lyrics. She wrote:
"Dad gave me the lyrics. Then it hit me what it was. I put on the headphones. While listening to it,
huge teardrops came down. It was so beautiful. AND you used a mandolin!! If there is one, I am a
happy girl! Then [my dad] gave me the CD cover. While I was listening it totally looked like the 'CD Cover
Katie' was dancing. I was completely flabbergasted. I was bawling, weeping. Thank you, Anna, ad
nauseum. My parents got the nuclear dose of gratitude, and I felt you should get some as well.
Thanks for my song." --Katie
PLEASE SHARE THIS SONG
The songs I create are for sharing. Please consider passing this link on to anyone you know who is, or has been, in the Peace Corps. OR, think about sharing it with anyone you love who is contemplating taking a HUGE LEAP with their lives. I made a giant life-starting-over leap myself once, about twelve years ago. It was one of the scariest, hardest things I have ever done. And the result of it has been rewarding beyond my wildest imaginings. To all those of you thinking about making a giant leap--fearing you can't, but secretly believing maybe you can, I say: YOU REALLY, REALLY CAN!! This is not a dress rehearsal. This is your one wild and precious life. You are fully, entirely, infinitely deserving of all that you can imagine you can give yourself. So go! So do! So give! So let yourself have it!
This song practically wrote itself. Katie's blog was ringing with words, concepts and feelings such that I pretty much shot like a bullet from her blog to my guitar and watched with wide eyes as the opening to the song showed up in one huge ready-to-roll chunk. I was fascinated with the way that the lyrics showing up were so completely specific to Katie, and yet also so fascinatingly universal to anyone who has ever taken a deep breath, taken a huge PLUNGE and thrown themselves, through sheer force of will, into the terror and the glory of a completely different life:
I got on a plane and I came here
Well hardly one damn thing is the same here
You take a whole wild life, you sell off the loose pieces
And squeeze the rest into too few bags
You look back on the life that you're leaving
Well good god, keep walking, keep breathing
Don't forget where you've been, let the meaning seep in
But now carry it forward and keep moving doorward and
Open to the rest of the story...
SHARING THE SONG: SURPRISE!!
Sue and Mal travelled to Hong Kong to meet up with Katie, and they came up with a totally unique and brilliant, if you ask me, way to present Katie's song to her. Katie's iPod had recently died, and with it she had lost, among other things, all of her "Anna Huckabee Tull music." Her parents had brought her a replacement iPod. As her mom handed it over to her, her dad mentioned that there was a song already on there. Then, as she looked down at the song and saw my name on it, her dad handed her the song lyrics. She wrote:
"Dad gave me the lyrics. Then it hit me what it was. I put on the headphones. While listening to it,
huge teardrops came down. It was so beautiful. AND you used a mandolin!! If there is one, I am a
happy girl! Then [my dad] gave me the CD cover. While I was listening it totally looked like the 'CD Cover
Katie' was dancing. I was completely flabbergasted. I was bawling, weeping. Thank you, Anna, ad
nauseum. My parents got the nuclear dose of gratitude, and I felt you should get some as well.
Thanks for my song." --Katie
PLEASE SHARE THIS SONG
The songs I create are for sharing. Please consider passing this link on to anyone you know who is, or has been, in the Peace Corps. OR, think about sharing it with anyone you love who is contemplating taking a HUGE LEAP with their lives. I made a giant life-starting-over leap myself once, about twelve years ago. It was one of the scariest, hardest things I have ever done. And the result of it has been rewarding beyond my wildest imaginings. To all those of you thinking about making a giant leap--fearing you can't, but secretly believing maybe you can, I say: YOU REALLY, REALLY CAN!! This is not a dress rehearsal. This is your one wild and precious life. You are fully, entirely, infinitely deserving of all that you can imagine you can give yourself. So go! So do! So give! So let yourself have it!
ANNA HUCKABEE TULL
Anna Huckabee Tull is an award-winning Singer-Songwriter with five national CD releases to her credit, including the recently-released "Every Day," a collection of songs exploring the relationships between parents and children, young and old. Anna is also a Psychologist and Life Coach, with a Master's Degree in Spiritual Psychology and Applied Psychology. [More about Anna]. She lives in Somerville, Massachusetts with her husband and their two boys.
Special thanks and lots of love to all those superstars who helped shift this song from an idea of a single guitar track to the many joyful layers you hear here: Eric Kilburn on acoustic guitar, bass and mandolin, Larry Luddecke on keyboards, and Katrin Peterson on percussion. That's me on harmonies. Ah, the joy of backing yourself up!!
THE LARGER STORY
Since 1960, more than 187,000 people have served in the Peace Corps in 139 different countries. One of those people is my mother-in-law, Babs Tull, who, at age 75, returned LAST WEEK from two and a half years in the Peace Corps in Thailand. Shifting gears completely and moving to Thailand to help others was the astonishing choice Babs made after a year of grieving the loss of her beloved husband (my beloved father-in-law) DaveTull. My family had the good fortune to get to visit Babs in her hometown in Thailand this January. I was blown away by what I saw there--in Babs, in the people of Thailand who had taken her in so completely, and by what is made possible when people who care come together. Welcome home, Babs! I am so proud to call you family.
Any who are interested can visit PeaceCorpsJournals.com where you can find, as Katie says, "everyone who has a blog about their PC adventures in every nook and cranny of the world."
Anna Huckabee Tull is an award-winning Singer-Songwriter with five national CD releases to her credit, including the recently-released "Every Day," a collection of songs exploring the relationships between parents and children, young and old. Anna is also a Psychologist and Life Coach, with a Master's Degree in Spiritual Psychology and Applied Psychology. [More about Anna]. She lives in Somerville, Massachusetts with her husband and their two boys.
Special thanks and lots of love to all those superstars who helped shift this song from an idea of a single guitar track to the many joyful layers you hear here: Eric Kilburn on acoustic guitar, bass and mandolin, Larry Luddecke on keyboards, and Katrin Peterson on percussion. That's me on harmonies. Ah, the joy of backing yourself up!!
THE LARGER STORY
Since 1960, more than 187,000 people have served in the Peace Corps in 139 different countries. One of those people is my mother-in-law, Babs Tull, who, at age 75, returned LAST WEEK from two and a half years in the Peace Corps in Thailand. Shifting gears completely and moving to Thailand to help others was the astonishing choice Babs made after a year of grieving the loss of her beloved husband (my beloved father-in-law) DaveTull. My family had the good fortune to get to visit Babs in her hometown in Thailand this January. I was blown away by what I saw there--in Babs, in the people of Thailand who had taken her in so completely, and by what is made possible when people who care come together. Welcome home, Babs! I am so proud to call you family.
Any who are interested can visit PeaceCorpsJournals.com where you can find, as Katie says, "everyone who has a blog about their PC adventures in every nook and cranny of the world."
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