I had never heard of the Birmingham Sunlights, but I would never forget them. They asked for volunteers to come on stage and help them sing the next song. I stood up. One of the kids -- I don't remember which one -- said, "If you go up there, I'll never speak to you again."I went up there.
Five volunteers and five Sunlights. We each ran through our part with our Sunlight -- the audience snickered and cheered us on as we did -- and then all ten of us sang our hearts out to "The Last Mile of the Way." Soon *everyone* was singing - we were, all of us together, the song. The energy zinging through that tent was so amazing I thought we might lift right off the ground. I have never forgotten it. And the children still speak to me.
The chorus to this song feels particularly appropriate for where I am right now with this novel:
When I've gone the last mile of the way,
I will rest at the close of the day.
For I know of the joys that await me,
When I've gone the last mile of the way. *
Please let me go that last mile of the way and Get This Novel Off My Desk! Slog, slog, slog -- isn't that always the last mile of the way? That's how my work feels right now -- total slog. I'm tryin' to get to the close of the day. I want some of that joy that awaits me, some of the joy I felt that day, singing with the Sunlights.
You can hear the marvelous Birmingham Sunlights (including "The Last Mile of the Way") here.
