Just Sayin' Hello!

Howdy friends! 

Ben here - checking back in. It's Sunday evening, so I figured what better way to end the weekend than share time with you? ;-) 

For those who had kept up with my previous e-mail, I had previously been on "vocal rest", attempting the ambitious endeavor of "no talking" for about a month...which was really about three weeks. If you didn't know this, now you do! Yay! 

To elaborate, but not bore you too much, I'll say it was an interesting experience! It included a variety of different communication methods, including paper/pencil, smart phone, awkward body language, limited sign language...aka, MANY thumbs up and the occasional thumbs down, and the last resort of no communication at all. Many of you probably had a fun encounter with me doing this! 

About three weeks ago, I started giving my voice a shot again. I had my follow up from the ENT doctor and voice pathologist, which to their surprise did observe shrinkage of the vocal lesion/polyp. This was good news to hear. 

So what was the follow up plan/verdict? More waiting! 

At this point, I'm still "waiting" to see if this thing will completely go away. They made it seem like there was a high chance that it probably WOULD NOT completely go away. But, who knows, right? And at the very least, if surgery is a necessity, the smaller it is, the higher chance for success! Unfortunately, it wasn't realistic to continue with complete voice rest...since LIFE is DEMANDING! 

Now that I'm using my voice again, I must say, it was weird at first. Almost didn't want to say anything...scared of the strange voice that came out of my mouth. But after getting used to it, I also realized how easy it was to go back to the normal range of voice usage. Like many things in life, it seems you don't realize how much you use something...until you try to NOT use it. This was the case of my vocals. I also realized the importance of wanting to be understood, and how often we are misunderstood even when we're able to talk. There is so much beyond communication than the words we say. 

With all this being said, I'm learning my limits! I'm trying to keep my gigs at two a month, and staying away from the really long ones (2 + hours) until around summer time! That being said...here are the gigs for April! I would love to see you at either show. If you see me doing more than two gigs in a month in May or June, yell at me. Please! 

SHOW UPDATES for April: 

Friday, April 5th - 8:30 PM, $10 
Singer-Songwriter Round - with Kristin Gramza and Dan Heidt 

The Music Room at the Market 
225 Park Rd, Columbus 43236 

Friday, April 26th - 8:00, FREE SHOW! 
Live at Victory's w/Luke Johnson, Cynthia Miller, and Josh Brenneman 

Classics Victory's 
543 S High St, Columbus 43215 

Thanks all for reading! 

Peace and love, 
Benjamin

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