I’m often late to the party when it comes to seeing things on social media. My children laugh that by the time it’s reached Facebook it’s about two years out of date.

I don’t mind.

I get to love the thing without the hype and know it for what it is. I get to quietly search out the story and be moved by it, changed by it.

And so I found Nightbirde.

This video appeared in a post on LinkedIn, which is surely last to the party. A video of a girl winning a golden buzzer on America’s Got Talent. A girl with a beautiful smile, a heartbreaking story, a powerful message.

You can’t wait until life isn’t hard anymore before you decide to be happy.

The emotion in her singing and her story and her smile healed my heart. Life is so hard at the moment but still filled with glimmers of joy if I just search for them.

We’re all a little lost and it’s alright.

From the video I found her instagram and then her website. I found her beautiful songs and profound words. I found her on Spotify.

I found the lyrics to Brave

And I swear that I’ll never make you small
I’ll never make you say you’re sorry for nothing at all.

I found profound lyrical heart wrenching posts on Facebook

It was early spring and the flowers were opening one eye to see if the winter was over. We stopped at a lookout hundreds of feet above the water. The sun was waist-deep in the ocean, and all the chalk had been wiped off the sky.

I found she died in February 2022 but was more alive than most and lives on still.

The dirt intended to bury me is now the mountain I stand on.

In her words I found peace.

I will decide to be happy.