Three summers ago my dad had just passed away, Brian was at golf so I decided to watch Americas Got Talent. The last act of the night was a girl called Nightbirde. While talking to the judges she revealed she had cancer and had a two percent chance to live but two percent was better than zero. She also said, “you can’t wait until life isn’t hard anymore until you decide to be happy”. I was blown away and then she sang It’s Ok, an original song. She received the golden buzzer from Simon Cowell. I listened to that song on repeat most of the summer as it helped me cope with the loss of my father. Sadly, she became to ill to compete and past away the following February.

Fast forward to this summer when once again Brian was golfing and I turned on America’s Got Talent. This year was a fifty-five year old janitor named Richard Goodall on stage. He shared that he had been a janitor for twenty-three years and sang in the hallways to pass the time while he was cleaning. The kids at school encouraged him to audition. He was shy and nervous till he opened his mouth and sang Journey’s Don’t Stop Believing. I felt like I was transported back in time and was instantly amazed. Heidi Klum gave him a golden buzzer and not only was he crying, I thought he might faint from shock. Of course his girlfriend was not surprised and he revealed it was the first time he was ever on a plane.

Richard is in good health so it has been pure joy for me to follow his journey all the way to the final results later tonight. I don’t think he cares if he wins, he is beyond thrilled to make it to the finals. He is so humble and such a good person. I often wished I had a janitor like him in school. Although I will always remember the lady that took care of the dorm floor. I cannot remember her name but she had red hair. She always talked to us like we were her own children. She was super funny as well.

I have looked forward to tonight all week. Before the results are revealed Richard will be singing with one of the band members from Journey. I’m pretty sure when he stepped foot on that plane, he never envisioned this is where he would be tonight. What an incredible journey for him and his friends and family. If you have never watched this show, you are missing out on a lot of good things and good stories. You can also find his performances as well as Nightbirde’s on YouTube.

Mole Moral ~ Take the risk, follow your dreams, you never know where you will end up or who you will touch along the way.