I came home last night to find my sweetheart in the middle of meditating. At the end of the meditation, she pulled a card from her Tarot deck for each of us. My card? Prepare to celebrate!

I realize that you may not believe in Tarot, which is cool. But my blog today is not about that. It’s about celebrating unexpected blessings.

You may or may not know that my parents lost everything in the big Bastrope, Texas wildfire over Labor Day weekend, just two days after my dad retired. He worked an extra five years in order to afford remodeling their home, in which they planned to spend their retirement. Thank God they were able to evacuate safely, along with all their grandchildren and four dogs and one (of two) cats. Unfortunately, the chickens didn’t fare so well. KFC wouldn’t even touch them after that fire!

When they were finally allowed back on the property to view the results, my dad (who has a pacemaker) collapsed and was rushed to the hospital where he spent the next five days. Again, thank God he is okay. Upon his release, though, he somehow managed to run himself over with his own car, breaking one of his legs and sending him back to the ER. I’m thinking it takes a lot of talent to run oneself over like that, and I’m glad that he’s found a use for his.

The doctors told him he needed to get the hell out of Texas for a while, because it was killing him! So mom and dad made plans to visit my daughter up in Utah, and then travel up through San Francisco and down the Coast Highway to visit me and my boy in Long Beach. UNFORTUNATELY, dad broke a crown and had to wait to have it replaced . . . two weeks after having made plans to leave.

Adding insult to injury, as it were, my parents’ insurance company refused to insure their property for it’s full value until the skirting went in around their house. That was scheduled to go in the week of the fire. Therefore, they are getting a fraction of what they lost in the fire.

What does this have to do with celebrating unexpected blessings? Well, let me tell you:

I decided to plan a benefit concert for my parents, and was surprised at the huge amount of support I received from friends, family, fellow musicians, and members of the community. Six of the top Irish bands in Southern California volunteered to perform, and their fans threatened to swamp the small venues I had in mind to host the concert.

So just this morning, I met with Phil Morin and Vanessa Sepulveda, the General Manager and Manager of the Tilted Kilt in Long Beach, CA. They enthusiastically volunteered their venue to host what has become one of the largest gatherings of Irish music in this area outside of the festivals . . . AT NO COST TO ME!

So right now I am basking in the warm feelings that come from people in my community sharing their love and their talent and their skills and their material goods to support my parents. They are giving to people they don’t even know, simply because they are my parents.

In a way, they are giving back to the people who have made it possible for me to pursue a career that allows me to entertain and uplift them. God, this feels good!

Unexpected? Yes! Blessing? Yes! Am I celebrating? YOU BET!

If you would like to participate and enjoy this concert yourself, here’s the information:

Saturday, November 19th, 2011
1:00pm til closing!
The Tilted Kilt
6575 E. Pacific Coast Hwy
Long Beach, CA 90803
(562) 795-0163

Let me know what unexpected blessings you are celebrating this week!