Welcome back, everyone!

I was happy to attend both the Midwestern and Southern Region ACDA conferences in February.  The last I attended in person was the 2020 Midwestern convention in Milwaukee. 

Covid 19 was already being talked about – we knew a little about it -- and there were fewer handshakes and fewer hugs than I was used to at choral gatherings.  We were a little careful. I remember a greeting song sung by a featured choir in one of the sessions.  We were all invited to get out of our chairs and join in, singing our way around the room and shaking hands with those we met.  Most of us bumped elbows.  We smiled and laughed a little, nervously.  It already felt strange.  There were more empty seats between us in the concert hall, fewer rows with good friends all scrunched in together.  Socially distanced before that was a thing.  The next week everything changed as we know it.

It was good to be back together in a way that we hadn't for two years.  Beautiful live (though masked) performances were thoughtful and moving, each choir bringing messages of reemergence, reconciliation and reconnection, and dinners together and reminiscences brought a new awareness of what we mean to each other.  We had all forgotten how much we missed this. 

Welcome back, everyone!