Someone Like Me

“Someone Like Me” is the second song that I began to work on in my Daughters in His Kingdom set. The story that inspired its lyrics was the first to really light a fire of inspiration in my heart. You’ll read more about that below. I initially notated this song completely by hand, but after the time that it took to do this one and “Daughters in His Kingdom” via pencil and staff paper only, my husband and I decided it would be worthwhile to invest in music notation software. It was a wise decision. 😉

“Someone Like Me” is also the second song in the program! After the choir begins the presentation by singing “Start”, and before singing “Someone Like Me”, I like to spend a few moments introducing myself and the premise of the program with this simple story:

I grew up in a very rural area of Southeastern Idaho.  We lived just down the road from my great grandparents.  I would walk to their home often and visit them.  It was a short trip, and by the time I was eight or nine years old, I would go by myself to their house and spend an evening visiting or playing Chinese Checkers.  Sometimes I’d stay long enough into the evening that it would be dark when I needed to leave.  I was afraid to walk home alone in the dark.  There were no street lamps, and there was one particularly dark stretch of the road that I hated.  My grandparents were unable to walk with me, but my wonderful grandmother would turn on all of their porch lights, stand in the doorway, and watch me until I reached my house safely.  While I was walking, especially in that dark stretch, she would yell, “Are you there yet?” until I arrived on my own front lawn.  She would yell it over and over until she knew I had made the journey safely.  She called this, “Hollering me home”.   If I was afraid, I knew that I could look back and see her standing in the light of her doorway.  She wouldn’t leave her post until I had safely reached my destination. Just hearing her voice from behind helped me remember that I wasn’t alone.

Every day we are on a journey.  Some are long, some are short.  Some are new and some are not.  Regardless of our point along the path, there are those who have walked it before but who are unable to walk by our sides.  If we look back to them, their illuminated figures will give us strength and courage.  They are figuratively “hollering us home”.  The book, Daughters in My Kingdom: The History and Work of Relief Society, teaches us about the past and those who have walked the path before us.  They are our fellow travelers. Though our journeys may differ in detail, if we look closely, we will see ourselves in their stories and find strength through their examples.

Would you like to hear a little bit more about the backstory that inspired my musical journey? I hoped you would!

In 2010 I was invited by a member of our ward Relief Society presidency to sing for one of our activities.  I couldn’t remember the theme of the evening, so two weeks before the event I called her.  She told me that the theme for the night was “Praise to His Name”.  After I hung up the phone I had the thought, “Wow, that would make a great song title.  Too bad I don’t know a song by that name.”  Then came the whispered feeling, “You could write one.”  Honestly, I may have laughed out loud.  I wasn’t a song-writer.  I’d improvised tunes and dabbled with lyrics here and there over the years, but I’d never actually written a song.  However, the more I gave place to that thought, the more it grew.  Ideas for lyrics started to come, so I wrote them down.  Ideas for a melody came into my mind, so I wrote those out too.  At the end of those two weeks, I had finished the song and I sang it for our Relief Society dinner.  It went surprisingly well!  And I thought, “Well, that’s that then!” 

But just a month later, the aforementioned book was released.  Our ward Relief Society presidency challenged all of us sisters to read it.  So, I did.  I admit that I had a hard time getting into it at first.  For me it was not like a novel, pulling me in from page one.  It took a little bit of determination and perseverance, but I began to open my eyes to its beauty.  By the time I finished it, I was on fire!  I started to ask other women if they had read it.  Many of them hadn’t.  Some had had the same initial experience I had and just hadn’t picked it back up.  Others had put the book on the shelf and forgotten it.  I was so excited about the things I had learned and felt that I found myself feeling sad that they hadn’t had the chance to feel those same emotions too.  Then I had the thought, “Wow, I wish there was music to go along with this book.”  Then came the thought, “You could write the music”.  Oh my.  I had written one song, but that did NOT make me a song writer.  I wish I could say that I immediately went to work on following that inspiration, but I didn’t.  I wrote down lyric ideas here and there, and pondered it all the time.  I even re-read the book for more inspiration and ideas.  But I didn’t feel like I could do it.  Months later, my husband and I decided to fast and pray about this because the feeling just wouldn’t go away.  It would be a big undertaking, and I felt incredibly inadequate.  But the answer was clear.  So, I began to gather supplies, research, and ask questions (LOTS of questions!) of those who knew how to do this sort of thing (huge thanks to Kamie Bolen on this one! If you don’t know her stuff, you should check it out here). Then I went to work.

One of the first things that caught my attention in the book was this statement by Elder James E. Talmage: 

“The world’s greatest champion of woman and womanhood is 
Jesus the Christ.” 

“The Savior taught women in multitudes and as individuals, on the street and by the seashore, at the well and in their homes.  He showed loving-kindness toward them and healed them and their family members.  In many parables, he told stories of women engaged in ordinary activities.  He demonstrated deep familiarity with women’s lives and drew timeless gospel lessons from their everyday experiences.  He forgave them.  He wept with them.  He had compassion on them in their specific circumstances as daughters, wives, homemakers, mothers, and widows.  He appreciated them and ennobled them.” (Daughters in My Kingdom, pg 3)

The same is true in our day, and women continue to play a vital role as disciples of Christ.

“In the spring of 1842, the Latter-day Saints in Nauvoo, Illinois, worked enthusiastically to build a temple in their city.  The Prophet Joseph Smith encouraged everyone to help…. Sarah M. Kimball recounted the following:…” (pg. 11)

“The Nauvoo Temple walls were about three feet high.  Strong appeals were being made by the President of the Church and others for help to forward the work. 

“Miss [Margaret] Cook… one day in conversation with me on the subject of a recent appeal for provisions, clothing, bedding and general supplies for the workmen and their families, remarked that she would be pleased to contribute needlework if it could be made available.  I proffered material for her to make up, and suggested that others might feel as we did.  We then [discussed] the subject of organizing a sewing society.  The object of which should be to aid in the erection of the temple. 

“About a dozen of the neighboring sisters by invitation met in my [home] the following Thursday.” (pg. 11)

During that meeting they decided to form an organization, and Eliza R. Snow was asked to write the constitution and by-laws for them.  They asked the Prophet Joseph Smith to review them.  He said they were they best he had ever seen.  But he told them that the Lord had something better in mind.  Their humble offering was accepted of the Lord, and the following week the Prophet organized the Relief Society.  It all began with a small and simple conversation between two women with a desire to serve God.

This story was a journey-changer for me.  Sarah Kimball and Margaret Cook had a small and simple conversation that propelled them toward something great.  And it got me thinking…How often do we have small and simple conversations with our neighbors, friends, and family? 

Every. Single. Day.

Through small and simple things, great things are brought to pass. What GREAT things will you set in motion today?