The Gift of Broken Pieces
Discover more from Pass Along Songs
The Gift of Broken Pieces
In which we ask, how do you show up?
"It’s not the dream I always had, and that’s okay. Because I showed up and did something I never believed I could do.” - Mandy Harvey
Our first song, “This is Me,” was all about refusing to “hide away” or to believe that “no one will love you as you are.”
In this song by Mandy Harvey, entitled “Try”, we hear a singer/songwriter coming to terms with events and circumstances that seemed to have broken her. Mandy was eighteen and studying vocal music at Colorado State University when she lost her hearing due to a connective tissue disorder known as Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.
Mandy’s response to the shattering of her lifelong dream was to keep singing! Click the image above to hear her extraordinary performance.
So Tell Me a Story…
I’m pretty sure all of us have been disappointed in life. Perhaps not as dramatically as Mandy Harvey, but in ways that forced us to rethink our priorities, goals, and relationships - to pick up the pieces of ourselves and find a way forward.
Tell me about a time in your life where a dream was broken, a trust betrayed, or a situation forced you to do some course correction. How did you cope? What did you learn?
Let the Conversation Begin!
Questions? Write to me at Jena@BraidedLives.com
Copyright 2021 by Jena Ball. All Rights Reserved.
The Gift of Broken Pieces
I watched the utube of Mandy when she sang in front of Simon Cowell and she won the Golden Buzzer. Of course I cried. I have kleenex beside me. The questions you ask are profound and deep. Lately I have confronted myself with this story which occurred when I was in 8th grade. I just now am beginning to understand how much it impacted me. I was in a Creative Writing Class. For our final Grade we had to do a Project. So I wrote a book and illustrated it with origami paper in collage work. When I turned it in the teacher gave me an A Plus. She wanted it published. But my mother told me it was nonesense. I was too shy to call the woman who wanted it published. Then...the teacher took my book and said she wanted to use it for future classes as a reference on how to get an A plus. I was too shy by her authority to say anything. But I was devastated. I worked so hard on that book. And now years later I am angry at that teacher for stealing my book and being selfish. I realize it did something deep inside me to stifle my creativity. My mother was always stifling me but that is another story. I realize after watching Mandy I have allowed ( yes me) others to take things and gifts from me that do not belong to them and even though I am so much older...I have to be so much wiser about myself as I go down the carpet into the gloaming years. And now, I have so much to catch up on with your songs Jena and myself. This was beautiful. Thank you Jena.
Wonderful, Jena!!