After the heart attack and then the by pass surgery some 35 years ago, I never dreamed that I would live to be 70. Now I am 80. The fact is that I really never thought that I would make it to seventy. You can see why I was excited and also thankful as I approached birthday number seventy, I was so very excited about it that I wrote a nice letter to every doctor that had a part in my recovery , and thanked them for the part that they played getting me to this place in my life.
At that time we had a business that employed 30 people . My wife, Virginia and daughter, Judy, along with one or two of the employees planned a surprise birthday party for me, to be held at Primo’s Restaurant here in Jackson. All of the employees and all of my friends had been invited. It was certainly hush, hush as I had no inclination of what was going on.
A big part of the surprise was that they had managed to get a young girl who was building a good reputation as a singer, to come and be the entertainment. Some of the employees had heard of her. She sang at her church and other local functions and it was said that she was a beautiful girl with a wonderful voice.
A day before the big event, what do I do but catch the flu and am too sick to do anything. They told me about all the plans and of course every one was disappointed, especially me. They told me that the singer’s name was Faith Hill and that we would try to get her at a later date if we could.
Well, as time went on, we kept hearing her name and how good she was. It seemed no time had passed before we read that she had turned professional and had started up the ladder to success. Meanwhile, every time some one had a birthday or even mentioned birthday, in my presence, they had to hear my story about the time Faith Hill almost sang at my birthday party. I was especially vocal on my birthdays that were going quickly by.
I kept up with Faith as did thousands of others. I have a lot of respect for the way she has lived her life and what a wonderful role model she is. To be truthful I have a "School Boy Crush " on her. ic. I am one of her biggest fans and perhaps oldest.
A few weeks ago we read in the paper that Faith was going to do a concert in Jackson to benefit The Jackson Zoo. People who were “Friends of The Zoo” by membership, would get first choice at tickets, when they went on sale. Judy made sure that my membership was up to date and on the day of the ticket sale she stood in line several hours and obtained tickets for us. Needless to say I was very excited about the thought of finally getting to see Faith in person
Yesterday Judy came over to see me as she does every day. Today, however she was grinning from ear to ear and was about to burst from excitement. She hands me a large folder and said open that. She still had a large envelope in her hand. I never know what to expect from her so I carefully opened the folder and pulled out a large colored picture. of FAITH. I almost fell over. Written in the bottom rigth corner in big letters was, " Lawrence Love Faith."
Man was I excited. I was so carried away that I almost forgot about the envelope that Judy was holding. As she handed it to me and she wore the biggest smile I have seen on her in a long time. I opened it, pulled out a beautiful greeting type card and began to read the large handwritten words. I choked up and cried before I finished reading it. The words were, "Dear Mr. Lawrence, I missed meeting you several years ago I understand . This short note is to say happy late birthday and may you celebrate many more." always Faith.”
I don’t know how Judy managed to get the message to Faith about that missed birthday years ago, but she did. I was already in love with Faith but what can you say about a wonderful person, who just happens to be the best and most beautiful female singer in the world, who would take the time out of the hectic busy life that she leads,--to do something this nice for an old guy like me.