Have you ever tossed a pebble into a still body of water and watched the ripples it creates? As they move outward, they affect everything they touch. You’re like that pebble. Everything you do and say affects those around you.

Recently, my family received the sad news that some of our New Zealand (N.Z.) family members have made the decision not to visit the U.S. again. We’re all getting older, and health issues, much less that long trip across the Pacific, makes traveling hard.

The Beginning

How did we end up with “family” in N.Z.? Simple. I read a book.

Thanks to N.Z.  author, Essie Summers, I fell in love in my early teens with their country and began the hunt for a N.Z. pen pal. I tried several agencies without success. Then, the summer after my sophomore year in high school, my aunt took some of the family to visit Great Britain. We stayed at various Bed & Breakfasts as we toured the country. In Scotland, I noticed several visitors were from New Zealand and Australia, and a crazy idea took root. I skimmed through the B&B’s guest book, writing down all the N.Z. and Australia visitors with accompanying addresses. More than a year passed before I picked out the ten people with the most complete addresses and wrote them letters.

Believe it or not, I received replies from six of those ten. (Two ladies, one in NZ and one in Kangaroo Valley, Australia, not only wrote, but our correspondence continued throughout my college years.) Another lady felt she was too old to write to me, but she “introduced” me to a girl close to my age.

The Music

By the time I was a junior in college, I was firmly established on a N.Z. tourism list. My last year in Austin, I attended a special N.Z. tourism program, which included that country’s top male country vocalist. (Though I didn’t know who he was until the end.)

The N.Z. girl I’d been corresponding with sent me his latest cassette, a duet album with N.Z.’s top female country vocalist. After several phone calls to N.Z.—I won’t tell you how high that month’s phone bill was!—I came away with an invitation to send them the songs I’d co-written and the information that both singers would be coming to the States on another tourism gig within the next year.

Long story short—and believe me, it is a LONG and crazy story—when they arrived, my songwriting buddies and I crashed their first U.S. show, conveniently held in Houston. (The one for travel professionals only, I should add.) We met the singers, musicians, and their spouses. The next day, I drove to Ft. Worth and joined them at Billy Bob’s for another performance. What a night! They were all so friendly, welcoming me into their midst as if we’d known each other for years.

I planned to join them in Nashville the following week, but a blue norther blew through and their plans hit a roadblock, literally, in the form of snow-closed roads in Arkansas. The decision to cancel the rest of the tour left them with a free week. Four of the group, the female vocalist, drummer, and bass player and his wife, didn’t know what to do. They were the ones I’d been around most, and so felt comfortable extending an invitation to come home with me. I called my parents and they said, “Bring them.” And that’s what I did.

Their stay with my family began an almost four-decade, trans-Pacific friendship, especially with the bass player and his wife. (She was a schoolteacher like Mom.) Over the years, they and their family became part of our family. They’ve visited us often (both in Texas and Tennessee), and Mom and Dad visited them once in N.Z.

Did You Know…

• At the time I called N.Z. to speak with the singer’s agent, the agent was living a few miles down the road in San Antonio.
• Two friends and I had a couple of songs under contract with Marty Robbins publishing house in Nashville.
• On a later visit to Texas, the female vocalist sat on my parent’s couch and wrote, “Texas Is My Home Away From Home.” (Click here and then click on the album cover to hear a portion of the song.)

The Ripples

That N.Z. author, the “pebble” in this story, had no concept of what her books set in motion. The ripples are too numerous to share here but take my word, there are many. The biggest being the gain of our N.Z. family. The hole we’d have in our lives without them is too great to comprehend. But while we may not see them again in person, they’ll always be in our hearts and minds, and, thanks to technology, only an email or video call away.

Did You Know…

• New Zealand author, Essie Summers, was offered The Order of the British Empire for contributing to her country’s tourism. (Obviously, I wasn’t the only one touched by her vivid descriptions of N.Z.’s landscape and people.)