It’s entirely typical for me to get lost when I am in another part of the world—in this case I am presently in Durham, North Carolina where I am here for the wedding of my former student, Joey Fala to Sarah Jones in Goodson Chapel at Duke University.

Earlier in the day Joey had picked me up to take me to practice on the beautiful Richards, Fowkes organ. Click here for the specifications.

I also found a YouTube video with a brief interview with The Rev. Susan Jones, Sarah’s mother.

Afterwards he took me back to my hotel to change and get ready for the first official event, the Bridal Tea.

I punched in “Goodson Chapel” into my phone and dutifully followed the instructions, only to find that I arrived on the Quad side of Duke University Chapel, the other side from the parking structure where I needed to park. You see, I visited here a year ago April and parked here several times.

Well then, I spent the next 50 minutes driving around in circles trying to get to the Parking Structure IV, even stopping several times to punch in “Duke University Chapel” “Parking Structure IV” and “106 Science Drive.” Out of desperation I even pulled over to call Joey to tell him I was lost. By some miracle, I eventually found it through Joey’s instructions. What a relief!

The lesson of the day is don’t rely on GPS to get you to where you want to go!

Was I sure happy to see these people!

After I did a quick run-through with Sarah’s brother, Nate, with whom I am performing Bach’s “Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme ” from Cantata 140, everyone moved into the Chapel for the wedding rehearsal.

Now, I must confess that it has been a LONG, LONG time since I’ve been to a wedding rehearsal. My usual excuse is that since I’ve played over 6000 weddings, I as the organist don’t need to practice my part!

This time, though, I was a spectator!

The bride and her father

It is going to be beautiful wedding!