Miracles In The Spotlight

Miracles In The Spotlight(Tom Di Roma) Miracles In The Spotlight

They say music can sooth the savage beast. It can also produce miracles. At least, it did for my husband and me—and for a street harpist named Christian Ford.
Christian was a young man in his early twenties who looked more like he should be a barista at a Starbucks instead of playing the harp on the streets of San Francisco for tips. But that wasn’t the only surprising thing about him. There was the music itself.
Most people, when they hear the word harp, think of old-fashion type orchestra or chamber music. But Christian’s sound was uniquely different. He could play just about anything you requested: Broadway tunes, pop tunes, country western, even reggae. But it was his T-shirt that drew my attention to him first.
My husbandand I ran a T-shirt shop in a strip mall in the Napa Valley area of California. We imprinted T-shirts with all kinds of logos and designs for various organizations and/or individuals. We were doing great for about the first couple of years, until the recession hit, and then things started going downhill, not only for us, but for many of the other mom and pop businesses in the area. In fact, things had gotten so bad, we were seriously considered filing for bankruptcy. Both of us were depressed by the downturn in our finances, but my husband was taking it even harder than me. So one day, I suggested we go into San Francisco, just to relax and put aside our troubles for the moment.
While strolling around the more touristy areas of downtown, we came upon a small grassy knoll where we discovered Christian and his music. But like I said, it was his T-shirt that drew my attention first. He had on a black T-shirt with a white tuxedo design on it, exactly like the one we had in our inventory—a design that no one had requested for a very long time.
“Hey, look!” I said to my husband, and pointed toward Christian’s shirt. “Just like ours!”
When my husband saw what I was pointing at, he said, “Let’s go and see what he sounds like.” So we sat down on the grassy knoll in our jeans and began to listen to Christian’s music.
And that’s when the first of the miracles took place.
At one point, I looked over at my husband, and not only could I see that he was enjoying himself, he had an almost child-like expression of wonder on his face. It was like he was a toddler, sitting in a toy store, watching all the toys come to life. He looked so happy, it almost made me want to cry. Later, when Christian stopped for a break, my husband and I went up to him to tell him how much we had enjoyed his playing. My husband even dropped a hardly affordable ten dollar bill into Christian’s bucket! Then while my husband and Christian continued conversing, I slipped one of Christian’s cards into my purse.
That night, while my husband was taking a shower, I called the number on Christian’s card. Luckily he was home. I asked him if he would like to come to our house and give a one-man concert for my husband and some friends? He hesitated, so I asked him what was wrong? That’s when he confessed that he didn’t have any transportation. “No problem,” I told him. “I’ll have someone pick you up and drive you home.”
We discussed the date and time, and I told him I’d be asking for donations for him from the attendees. He agreed and then, after hanging up, I began the preparations for the concert. These included making up flyers in which I told everyone to BYB, as well as bring blankets and/or chairs, flashlights, and even food if they wanted. I also mentioned that I’d be asking for donations for the harpist. This was when the second miracle took place.
I had made up only ten flyers and passed them around to a few friends and neighbors. But they must have told other people, who then went on to tell others; because in the end, we must have had something like a hundred adults show up. Some even brought their kids.
Now, you’re probably wondering where we held this grand musical event? Well, even though my husband and I lived in a rented condo with a postage stamp-size back yard, it had a fence along its border with a gate that opened onto a greenbelt. That’s where I was going to have Christian play. So the night of the concert, I clamped some spotlights we used when we did street fairs and such onto the fence, and focused their light directly onto the place where Christian would perform.
My husband didn’t know this was happening until the night before the concert. I saw how much he had enjoyed watching Christian play the first time, and I wanted him to experience some of that same joy again, so I told everyone to keep it a secret as much as possible. Once he did find out, I could almost see that same child-like joy fill his smile.
And then, three more miracles happened that night.
Like in San Francisco, Christian took requests and played all kinds of music. Then during intermission, I saw both my husband and Christian talking to a couple of people I didn’t recognize. I learned later, both men were local business people with plans. One was the head of a music conservatory who happened to be looking for a harpist for his traveling symphony. He would eventually make Christian into an internationally known musical celebrity.
The other man, who had been talking to my husband, was a local entrepreneur who liked helping struggling businesses. He offered to buy our shop and expand it into more than just T-shirts. Although my husband was slightly reluctant at first, he agreed, and our little mom and pop business exploded into a major trophy and sports memorabilia outlet, which my husband would oversee.
Over the next three years, with what we received from the sale, and what we were able to save, we had enough money to put a down payment on a small but comfy one-story house with enough of a backyard for my future daughter to play in.
Oh, remember I said we were going to ask for donations? Well, after everyone but Christian and his ride left, we checked the bucket that I had placed by the front door for donations. Somehow, one hundred people had managed to generate one thousand dollars!
Like I said, the night was full of miracles.