It's October of 2010 and I'm sitting in my assigned seat on the bus on the way to sixth grade with my royal purple iPod in hand, the white earbud cord snaking up to my ears where the small speakers were nestled in. Softly vibrating in my ears were the melodious voices of The Band Perry and their hit song "If I Die Young" which was likewise vibrating in my small soul in a way I'd never felt before. My dad's brother, my uncle, had just passed away this month and it was much too hard for my small soul to take, so I coped with playing this song on a never-ending repeat.
My uncle was never around too much as I was growing up, as he was always off on another adventure or working at some really cool place. But, the summer of 2010 he was home for the entirety of it and we had a brand new adventure for him to take part in, planning my grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary celebration. He was always a great baker and party planner, but this was the time when the intensity of his powers came to the surface. He baked cake after cake until the tiers sat just right, he made Mexican wedding cake cookies only for me to eat half of them before they even left the kitchen, and created an excitedness around events that has never left me.
The celebration and summer both ended consequently, as the story goes, school started up again and he returned to his adventures in Michigan. That was until his repeated heart attacks in October were too much for his celebratory, crazy, always happy self to handle. October was the first time I'd experienced the death of a family member and it hit me extremely hard.
Now, I'm a freshman in college, almost nineteen years old, and majoring in Event Planning at Indiana University. Surprisingly, seven years later I have never made the connection of my life path and my uncle until I was on my way back to college after Easter weekend.
My ride asked if I could find the song "If I Die Young" by The Band Perry and I obliviously searched for the song on Spotify as the rain pelted the windshield. As soon as the song started playing I was pulled into an emotional place that I couldn't explain, it was like my uncle was there with me talking to me. I think a lot about what my uncle's opinions would be on my life today, would he be happy with the choices I'd made? In this moment, I got all the answers I'd ever asked for. My eyes were pulled up to the sky and I was reminded of the adventurous life he'd led and the excitedness he'd embedded in me for events and parties and I realized he couldn't be happier I was following this path toward an extraordinarily exciting life.
The song ended and I was brought back into my current place in life, but those answers I received from the stars and The Band Perry that night will always stay with me in a special place in my heart.
