In my nearly 40 years of living in Hawaii, never have I heard the term “lei shower.” So you can imagine my surprise when I opened my email this afternoon and saw this message:

To tell you the truth, I’d be content to sit quietly on the organ bench, with my back to to the congregation, and certainly don’t need a fuss to be made over my last Sunday service, which is tomorrow. But I guess people feel that they need a way to say “good-bye.”

I was asked to come at the end of the 8:00 am service to be recognized during the announcement time, and then to play the postlude I have scheduled for the 10:30 am service. So today I set up the music on the rack, all ready to go so I need only to jump on the bench, hit a piston, and take it away. No, I don’t need to warm up beforehand — but I’ll save that discussion for another post.

I’m only sorry that we didn’t hear of the lei shower before now because I’m sad that Carl Crosier will not be able to share this event with me, since he made a commitment to sing with the St. Andrew’s Cathedral choir tomorrow morning. But I do have three more services after tomorrow: two on Christmas Eve and one on Christmas Day, and that’s a LOT OF music to get through before I officially take off my organ shoes!

P.S. If you “Google” the term “lei shower” you’d be surprised at what turns up. No wonder I’ve never heard the term before! . . . I lead a VERY sheltered life!