Aaron Hobson

Margie and I made our weekly meeting a Wednesday this week so we could attend what we thought was going to be just a lovely piano recital, part of the Lunchtime Concerts series we've both attended in the past. What we didn't know is that one of the pianists (seated, you see his hair and his back in this photo) is the father of a remarkable young man who sings like a Broadway star. Aaron sang three songs, "Bring Him Home" from Les Mis, "If I Only Had a Brain" from The Wizard of Oz (which left us all in tears), and finally, "It's a Wonderful World." Aaron belongs to a performance group called PHAME, composed of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. He has a really beautiful voice, and he did a great job with all three songs--pitch, rhythm, words, volume: he has it all.

The rest of the concert was good, but Aaron blew us away.

I raced off to the toilet when the concert ended, and Margie told me that while I was gone, she had a chance to speak to Aaron and tell him how moved she was. He beamed and told her, "I love to sing!" 

After the concert, Margie and I went out to lunch, but we had to sit and cry and laugh and blow our noses before we could think about eating.