The Cool Down Game

Something interesting happened in spin class the other day. It is an unlikely place for an epiphany, but it happened just the same. It was a full class. Between 30 and 40 people show up this time of year - this Resolution time of year. Most of us only know each other in the context of spinning. So, Dean the instructor came up with a game to play during the "cool down" portion of our class. The game is entitled "What Do I Do For A Living?". Over the course of the past several weeks, I have come to find out that I am spinning with surgeons, nurses, pharmacists, fire fighters and the chief of police!

On this particular day, however, I got chosen. I sat there, self-concious, as the members of the class sized me up and shouted out guesses. They thought maybe I was a nurse or a teacher or a stay at home mom. Someone finally noticed my BMI t-shirt, so they started guessing music business jobs and finally, songwriter.

After class was over people started asking me about my writing. They were so kind and interested and supportive. "Good for you!" they said and "Don't worry, you'll get your break soon!" Then the two guys who look like they are in a rock band mozy-ed over.

"We're songwriters, too", they said. And then we "talked shop." We know a lot of the same people and we talked about how tough it is "out there."

"Ya know, you two look familiar.....maybe we've met before," I suggested.

They looked at each other a little sheepishly and then one of them said, "We're the Warren Brothers!"

Oh right!! These were the guys who tried and tried to make it as country artists. They made 3 or 4 records and had several singles that didn't quite make it up to the top of the charts. Then they were judges on Nashville Star. Now they are just writing songs - mostly for other people. (They wrote that "Do It Anyway" with Martina!)

The epiphany?? I left there that day feeling like a songwriter once again. Like the Warren Brothers, my career path has not exactly followed the course that I hoped it would. But that doesn't mean that I'm not a songwriter anymore. It's not just what I do. It's who I AM. I HAVE to create. I wither inside if I don't. I have wasted too much time being disappointed by Music Row and wondering why I haven't gotten the big breaks yet.

No matter what happens, I will always be a songwriter. Every bit as much as Brett and Brad will always be The Warren Brothers.