The Pinky Promise That Changed My Life

After playing guitar and singing for years, spending time on stages, being a member of band and choir, and writing my own music I expected to be comfortable on stage alone. I was wrong. I was terrified to walk on stage and sing in front of my friends, and I could not pinpoint why. I had posted videos on my social media of myself playing and singing and that was not a big deal. I began playing in the chapel band with others and had no problem. Why all of a sudden, was it so nerve-racking to perform alone? My friends, teachers, and classmates were all pushing me to go solo for one chapel. But I could not make myself do it. Looking back I'm still not sure why I was so scared. As the end of junior year approached, and the pushing grew stronger, more and more people were encouraging me to step onto the stage. My friend McKenna approached me one day as we were all discussing chapel. She looked at me and said, “Pinky promise me you will sing in chapel by the end of this year”. Pinky promised are taken very seriously by our friends. Anxiously, I accepted with the crossing of pinkies to seal the deal. With only a few weeks left in school, time was ticking to perform or the promise would be broken. I had to sing the coming week. Word got around and the whole school knew that I would be leading chapel the next week. When the day came, my heart was racing as my fiend Rocco and I stepped onto the stage. I played guitar and sang while he backed me up on the piano. Together we played Alan Jackson's version of "What A Friend We Have In Jesus," “Are you Washed in the Blood," and “I’ll Fly Away." The nerves and anxiety went away as I began to praise the Lord and when I heard the audience start clapping along and noticed my friends, with smiling faces, in the front row. After chapel, my friends, teachers, and classmates, all had an encouraging word to offer me of my performance. My confidence began to grow and I was no longer afraid of singing alone. I was singing every week for chapel for the rest of my junior year and into my senior year. However, when COVID-19 hit, I was no longer able to perform at school. I took this time to go back and rewatch old Instagram videos to see my improvement. I saw how my confidence grew and how comfortable I had become as a musician on stage. I owe everything to God and McKenna. God gave me the confidence and ability, and McKenna’s (very serious) pinky promise ended up being the catalyst that I needed to kickstart my career. Without the promise, I would have never gotten on stage, gained confidence in my talents, or recorded my first EP the week after I graduated high school. One pinky promise impacted my life more than I could ever say, and without it, I would not be where I am today.