Klaine Ever After

Reunion: Rivers & Roads

"Hey all, I'm Mike Chang." the tall man of Asian decent announced. A fidgety little girl held his left hand and her mother's right hand on either side and she swung back and forth, occasionally kicking her feet off the ground. Mike smiled down at his daughter, "and this lively girl is my five-year old daughter, Christina."

Christina, upon hearing her name, looked up and shouted, "HI!!!"

Mike paused to laugh adoringly before saying, "Now if you remember we had a second child born a year ago and..." he exhaled sharply before saying, "unfortunately, Aaron Shum Chang was stillborn." A solemn silence filled the room at this news until Mike cleared his throat and regained his smile. "But, Jerra, my lovely wife, and I are currently trying again for another child so we will keep you updated on the progress." He let go of his daughter to give his wife a supportive hand squeeze as they returned to their seats.

The last to come up were Ryder, Marley, and their boy. The two looked to each other, nodded and then Marley stepped up to the mic. As she talked, Ryder signed. "Hi, I'm Marlee Lynn and this is my husband, Ryder, and our 13 year old, Andrew. For those of you who don't know this already, when our son was born we learned that the part of his brain that enabled him to analyze sounds was completely dysfunctional, causing him to be deaf. Yes, we did try the cochlear implant, but his body kept rejecting it. But he can still feel rhythm and I will say with pride that he is one mean drummer."

Andrew looked to his dad, saw what his mother had said about his percussion skills and his whole face lit up.

Marley continued, "So please don't feel sorry for Andrew. That embarrasses him and makes him stand out in a way that he doesn't want to stand out as. However, we just talked and he said he'd be happy to teach you some ASL or drum skills.

So, speaking of music..." Marley nodded to Sam who was standing at the ready with a guitar in hand. "... The Lynn family and Mercedes and Sam Evans rehearsed a song together that we think we can all relate to at this point in our lives. Both of our families are living in Nashville right now so we were able to find time to put this song together for you."

Mercedes came up and gave Ryder some rhythm blocks and Andrew a tambourine. Then she stood by Marley.

Sam and Ryder went to the other microphone and Andrew sat in a chair between them with his feet flat on the ground.

"This song is called Rivers and Roads." Ryder announced. "and it's by a group called The Head And The Heart. It goes like this-"

Sam began playing guitar chords and after a few seconds, sang:

"A year from now we'll all be gone

All our friends will move away

And they're goin' to better places

But our friends will be gone away

Nothin' is as it has been

And I miss your face like hell

And I guess it's just as well"

Ryder, Marley, and Mercedes sang harmony on the next line:

"But I miss your face like hell"

Ryder struck a beat on the sticks. He turned to Andrew so that his son could see what the tempo was. Andrew picked up on it and began tapping the tambourine on his other hand, his head constantly moving to the rhythm.

"Ohhhhh ohhhh oh

Ohhhhhhhhh oh...."

Ryder sang and the women joined him, singing at a much softer volume than him: