A great time was had by all, on the Jim Brickman Alaska Cruise. Beautiful weather, great ship, beautiful scenery, good friends, intimate concerts and up close and personal with Jim. Not to mention, not a care in the world….

I want to talk about the first evening. We had the Question and Answer session. I will share with you the first question that was directed to me, the mother. “What was he like when he was little?” I had to pause on that one. You know we are now talking about 50 years ago and my memory is not so perfect as it used to be answering on the spot. I spent some time trying to remember, and would like to answer it here, as best I can for all of you reading this.

James was and is way ahead of the game. By that I mean he sat up at five months, was walking at nine months, (holding on to his own shirt for balance!) and talked very early. He was singing the song from Sound of Music, “Doe a dear….” before others his age were talking, and knew all the capitals of all the states well before kindergarten. He was begging us for a piano at age four and was playing little tunes at my girlfriend’s house across the street before we ever had a piano. At music theory class at the Cleveland Institute of Music, they taught him on a piece of felt with black and white keys on it. You have heard about that in the concerts!

The one thing he was not good at, was sleeping. One day I said, “Mother and baby Michael are taking their naps”. He responded, “ Who’s taking my nap?”

That is James for you, and some things I remember from WAY Back When!!!