Fair Choir Experience: I came from a then-small school (Solon) with a graduating class of about 125. Our school choir was good, but limited; church choir was all adults in those days; and there weren't a lot of other options for group singing in my area. The week in Columbus with several hundred people my age who loved to sing, and who sang so well, was pure joy. I learned of all sorts of different choir experiences; was introduced to a much wider range of music; and just had fun. Music aside, just meeting kids from all over the state was a wonderful experience.

European Tour: It changed my life, no questions there. It made politics and culture more real to me than ever before. Vignette: I will never forget crossing "Checkpoint Charlie" in our tour bus -- this at the height of the Cold War -- and a group of us looking at each other, grinning, and bursting into "Don't Fence Me In" for the pleasure of the American soldiers at the gates. My letters home record our guide in West Berlin talking about "when Germany is reunited" and me writing to my parents -- "Gee, do you think that will happen in my lifetime?" (and happily it did).

That one's slightly profound. Other vignettes record simple pleasures: getting horrible laryngitis from running around the hotel rooftop in London in our nightgowns singing "Chim Chimeree" (Mary Poppins had come out the year before); bussing down to Swansea Wales with Glenville Thomas, him so proud to be taking us there, singing Men of Harlech ...; getting drunk for the first time in my life on rum-cokes in Madrid, and then having to persevere on a three hour bus ride out to an incredible concert in the tomb of the Fallen; signing "Hosanna" in Notre Dame de Paris on a rainy day, and having a shaft of sunlight hit that amazing Rose Window as we hit the last, long-held note; taking a crazy taxi across Rome to the American Express office to get more money from Dad ... I could go on and on.

I'd like to say it was all about music, but it wasn't; it was about growing up and beyond Solon, Ohio. The trip sparked a curiosity to know more about that world. It also imbued me with a much stronger sense of patriotism -- wearing that red blazer with the Ohio seal was a big deal back then --which led me into the US Foreign Service and a 30 year career in international development.

I'm writing this from Nairobi Kenya. Someday I'd like to see a Tour Choir in Africa, where choral music is much appreciated. For the moment I take great pleasure in having participated in something so special that continues to open the eyes of Ohio's youth to the greater world out here ...