Finale (noun) The ending of a great event; the finish, conclusion, culmination; the crowning glory.

Over the last couple of years when Lori’s body had been decimated by cancer there were so many things that she longed to do but could only do with difficulty if at all. This included walking, talking, singing, eating, breathing and so much more. But there was one thing that even in her last days that was not impacted by the cancer, her fingers. Though her trained hands she found her voice as she expressed her truest self on the piano. She would sit down at her Steinway in the music room and often would pick a key and then play around until she “found” a musical phrase that would suit her just right. Upon discovery of that phrase in the right key, she would begin playing the music of her soul, unscripted and unrehearsed but beautiful, always beautiful and nearly always in proper form. This music was the purest indication of what was going on in her heart and soul, and as gifted as she was as a writer, it was this music that best expressed her true feelings. 

When I was around and she found her “voice” in music, I would activate the recording equipment which was always set up and ready for opportunities to capture her treasures (music she affectionately called her junk). Not uncommonly, she would meet me as I returned from work and would invite me to take off my shoes, pour myself a glass of wine, and sit in the music room opposite the piano with low lights and relax as she would bathe me in the beauty of her music. These intimate moments would continue even until two days before her death when she gave me my final musical gift - Kevin’s Finale.

Today, I have the honor of releasing her final piano album - Finale. In many ways it is my favorite in that it is the purest reflection of her beautiful spirit and reflects the irrational peace that she experienced in the midst of the disease that would take her from us. I pray it will be as beautiful and meaningful to you who have journeyed with her/with us for so long. It is her gift to you and my way of sharing the amazing love that I was privileged to receive for nearly forty years. 

Her album is available to stream on Spotify, Google Play, Apple Music, and YouTube.  If you want your own copy, it can be downloaded to your computer. If that does not work, I have produced a limited number of CD’s that I would be honored to make available to you, our prayer warriors and fellow sojourners. I can be reached at kchoppock@aol.com.

Thank you for the hugs and notes of encouragement over the last nine months (and the eight years before that), for the countless prayers, for helping Lori to suffer well and to see that love and beauty can be found even in the hard places in life. You helped her see that her suffering had purpose, and that even in the pain, God’s grace was greater. What a woman, what a life -

Blessings All and Merry Christmas

Kevin