34th Celebration, Monday, January 20th

Many of us took a long path to get here. You never know what is around the corner, will it be good or bad, make you take another path, no one knows.

Every year as the Martin Luther King, Jr. birthday celebration approaches I remember where I was on April 4th, 1968 when he was cut down at age 39. As a young adult living in my hometown, Memphis, Tenn., where my path was just beginning that day was a horrible experience and a memory that returns again and again. Violence scars deeply.

Some 20 years later, my path led me to find a home in Atlanta. By then, each third Monday of January had been designated to the memory of Martin Luther King, Jr.. with a national holiday.

For years, I had loved a jazz and gospel singer, Linda Hopkins, who appeared on the Johnny Carson show many times.

She was included on the program for the MLK Celebration one year. Later that day, she was to appear at the Georgia Terrace Hotel in downtown Atlanta. Luckily, I got tickets for the show.

A small stage hardly big enough for the grand piano, the room maybe seated 50 of us and then a spotlight hit the stage and there was Linda Hopkins. She sat down and began to play and sing some of her famous songs mixing gospel and from her Broadway shows. About 30 minutes into the set, she said she was going to get a friend of hers to take over while she had a beer.

And who was this friend? Yolanda King, Martin Luther King’s oldest daughter. She took over on the piano and began to sing. She had definitely inherited her mother’s musical talent.

Linda Hopkins was walking towards a chair in the audience when I reached out to shake her hand and asked her if she would sit with us. She did and I bought her a drink and told her how I loved hearing her sing and play. Very gracious lady. Glad I was in her path.

You never know where your path will lead, sometimes good and sometimes bad, but hopefully always with meaning.