I didn’t send this into the contest because we would not have been able to attend the cruise. We live out in Texas. I hope you don’t mind that I waited till the contest was over but I wanted to tell you a little story.

Born in Kingston and raised in Woodstock, I had a childhood of rubbing shoulders with a very rich pool of artistic talent. Stars of every medium could be found buying groceries at the local Grand Union, having lunch at the Pub or in the case of Lee Marvin, popping into Franz’s barber shop for a quick trim. I am not telling you guys anything you don’t know, you know how cool a town it was!

We babysat for the likes of Jacob Dylan and lived in the same neighborhood with Piper Laurie and watched The Band practice at the Woodstock Playhouse. It was an experience I wouldn’t trade for anything. Just being in the vicinity of such talent gave me a broad based love of all facets of the arts and deep respect and awe for such creative talents.

Orleans has had a quiet but constant ribbon running through my life.

My love affair with Orleans began one night after finishing my job as a counter girl at Stewart’s Ice Cream shop. I met high school friends and we snuck into Joyous Lake. It was a night I will never forget. Nervous about being underage, it was the band’s electric performance that pushed my fear away and kept me coming back again and again. I was sure they were going to be big and Wow! - those girls sure were making a big fuss over Wells!

High school days were spent streaming up and down 28 or back and forth 212 with Orleans blaring from the tape decks. The rose colored world of a young girl with thoughts of If You Were a Queen and I was a King racing through her head.

High School led to college and it was a September night at Joyous Lake where, running out of the door, I ran into my husband to be. We had known each other in high school but never dated. And When You Give One Heart…..Four months later my husband proposed to me while at the Lake, yelling above the band as the music rang in our ears, Dance With Me.

The following fall we we had some great touch football games with a few of the Orleans band members, I believe it was one if not both you two as well as Robbie Dupree, etc… Good times but as it does for all, Time Passes On…

High school and college friends scatter to the four corners of the globe and beyond. Our path led us well across the country and pressing duties of career and family life replace the carefree days of youth and the warm notes of Orleans got lost in time. We found ourselves amid a Cold Spell and learned that Love Takes Time but that it can be nurtured and even rejuvenated with a few Sails.

An unexpected private reunion of selected high school friends is planned and we reunite in New Jersey for a weekend of memory making. Let There Be Music! Ten part harmony rang as we sang out to song after song of Orleans. We traded many stories, had a few good laughs and shed a few tears along the way and the police knocked on our door twice that night!

Now, the reunion is long past and that 16 year old Stewart’s girl has hit the big 5-0. Over the years, albums were replaced by tapes which were replaced by cd’s which were replaced yet again and again. You’ve been lost and found, just like us, you’ve come apart and back together and just like us, you’ve changed, grown and still, through it all, you’ve held firm to your passion.

Just a few weeks ago, on vacation in Florida, we were in Best Buy looking at Blue Ray disks when we wandered over to the Cd section… Any Orleans, my husband asked? I smiled and shook my head no.

In the moments when we are free, or when we want to be, or when I want my husband to think that I “don’t look a day over fast cars and freedom (ala rascal flatts), it’s Orleans that plays in our home, in our car and what we wistfully look for in Best Buy as our hands touch and we share a warm secret smile.

I wanted to let you all know, that just like my husband of all these many years, You’re Still The One.

We love you guys!!

Teri Hurley