I'm a fan of The Avett Brothers for relatively simple and pure reasons. The band's creativity knows no bounds, their passion explodes at the seams, the joy they find in their work is present in every note/word/bodily movement, and they sang their way into my life at the perfect moment. At a time when I needed to be reminded of my own passions, of my own worth, of life's blessings, of the shear joy in making a connection with music and dancing and knowing all the words to all the songs and having silly girlish ridiculous crushes on boys who are a simple reminder of the hope we can have in life!

See, the thing is, I ended an engagement in May of 2008 only 7 short months after my daughter was born and sometime around December of '08 a good friend said..."you would like these guys, The Avett Brothers, I love them". And I have many friends that offer me many things and we all have a utility for one another. And she is my music goddess and just about 100% of the time she knows what I want to hear, what I need to absorb, and flat out understands the greatness of music. So I listened to them. And thought the music felt comfortable and safe and welcoming. Then one morning, wasting time on the internet as I sometimes do, I heard Colorshow. I felt chills. I started crying. The song itself, the lyrics. That morning I needed to hear "Be loud, let your color show! Try to keep the madness low". And I have no idea what the story is behind the creation of Colorshow or what it means for the band.

What it meant for me was a reminder that the strong woman who I am could make it through the chaos of learning how to be a mother, working full time, developing a new kind of respectful relationship with the father of my daughter all the while reconnecting to the woman I'd felt I'd compromised over the past five years. And the boys have reminded me to honor my self-worth ("I wish you’d see yourself as beautiful as I see you. Why can’t you see yourself as beautiful as I see you? I open my door and this is what I see. The hope inside a girl just looking back at me."), to remember life needs balance and perspective ("just do your best, its the only way to keep that last bit of sanity, maybe I don't have to be good but i can try to be at least a little better than i've been so far") and so much more...

And then in February of this year I saw them live at Toad's Place in CT and do you know what they played? I saw them play Colorshow live! I nearly fell over. And this weekend I saw them in Rochester, NY and mentioned to another fan how I hoped I'd hear that song and he said...oh they never play that. And it made the fact that I heard it at the very first show I ever went to...that much more meaningful. And life is simply a million coincidences that create meaning when we have hope for it.

Love you Avett Brothers. Thanks for bringing music into the world.