Last week I took the plunge and told my boss I’m going to retire at the end of this year. I was planning to hang on a bit longer but something happened. I took my Mum to see the Soweto Gospel Choir perform and as the lights dimmed and these smiling, singing, dancing, joyous people began to perform I started to cry. Tears slowly rolled down my face in the dark as they sang their hearts out in time with the rythmic percussion, their very individual voices somehow blended into a wonderful, harmonious whole. They sang with gusto, their smiles lit up the stage and I kept crying. Somewhere around the end of the second song I asked myself why I was crying. As the third started I had the answer. I wanted to be truly happy like these singers. I wanted to leave behind the petty politics, the continual stress, the daily grind of the workplace and give myself over to a different life, a life that will give me less money to spend on things I don’t really need and more time to spend on people I love and creative projects that make me happy.
I would like to take every donwnhearted, sad and weight conscious girl in the universe to this concert so they could see an outstanding example of a very large, very happy woman who has the biggest smile I’ve ever seen, dancing up a storm, singing with passion and joy and obviously loving and being loved by the diverse men and women she shared the stage with. Every member of this choir has a unique voice, body shape, smile, and personality. They have BIG voices and really different singing styles yet they are able to happily and successfully bring those voices together to make joyful, uplifting and harmonious music. I left this concert wanting to dance, to sing , to paint, to read, to swim , to go for walks with my husband, to visit my sister, to help someone who needs my time now, to be cheerful, to count the minutes less, to eat better, to write more, to buy less, to live a new life!
So a big thank you to the Soweto Gospel Choir for a joyous musical feast that sparked a life changing decision.
Lindy Whitton Studio 
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