Maggie Lowe

Last night, I hosted an event that will most likely become an annual tradition. For one, I’m unreasonably proud of the name of this event. It was an evening of sing-a-longs called “CARE-eoke”. Come on. That’s amazing.

The two biggest loves of my life (when it comes to hobbies) are music and biking. They came colliding together for this event. I got into cycling back in 2019 as a way to memorialize my best friend’s daughter, Grace, who passed away because of cancer at the age of two. She was the sweetest, most vibrant, tough little lady I’ve ever known. Three months after she passed away, I participated in the Great Cycle Challenge for the first time. For one month out of the year, people from all over the country commit to riding however many miles they want and raise as much money as they can for the Children’s Cancer Research Fund and pediatric cancer research.

This year, I did a little more to let my two loves work together. I’ve been biking all month (184 miles of my 300 mile goal so far!) and I released an EP of original music called “Songs that Cancer Wrote” this month. The next logical step was an evening of music and community.

The room was filled with family, friends, and friends that feel like family. I shared about my experience with the Great Cycle Challenge (GCC), I shared about my time knowing Grace. Grace’s dad, Jared, shared about their fight with their sweet girl. Grace’s mom, Sarah, made sure we had covered everything that needed to be said about her. And then we sang together.

I’ve performed at two different places this month where I talked a lot about Grace. And while I talk about her a lot, I’ve realized that it has been mostly in conversation. I haven’t shared her story as in-depth in places that much before. And when I have there have been other things going on. Both of these events felt very different and very intense because people were listening. People were there to engage, and change, and be moved. It was an incredible honor and such a beautiful evening.

Thank you for the opportunity to talk and sing about Grace. Thank you for the opportunity to talk and sing together. Thank you.

These posts are all being titled with songs. It seemed fitting for a musician’s website. Most of them so far are pretty straightforward in their connection to the post. But I’d like to explain this one a little bit. “Einmal” is a German pop-song released in 2018. It is one of my all-time favorite songs (it’s important to note here…that I do not speak a lick of German). When I discovered this song thanks to Spotify radio, I was sucked in by the music and the melody. They simply feel undeniably hopeful. Then I decided to find out what it meant. The German cliche is “einmal ist keinmal” and it means “once doesn’t count”. The idea is that once in a life time happenings aren’t important and you need repeatability for validation. I fully fell in love with this song though when I went for a translation of the lyrics. And while I’m sure there is beauty lost in literal translation, my discovery that this song is saying that the things that only happen once actually contain MORE beauty because of their singularity gave my heart the feeling the music gives my brain. I think you should go give it a listen…or should I say a feel. And remember that the beauty in anything from a beach sunrise, to the first time holding your friend’s daughter, to an evening of music in community can often be felt in the knowing that you’ll never have that moment back. Sometimes…einmal ist alles (once is everything).