Fresh Breath of Hope

“Fresh Breath of Hope” was written for the wonderful violinist and close friend Mary Grace Johnson during the spring of 2021. The work was inspired by the conversations that Mary Grace and I had with the people at the Houston Women’s Home, a place that strengthens women and supports them as they reclaim their stability. Entropy and disorder are everywhere—a law of existence—in all forms unpredictable and harsh. Likewise, each person at the Women’s Home had a completely new story to tell and a different means of getting to where they were. However, in this community, everyone shared one common theme—shining in a place of darkness, a hope for the future. One client described the home as a “fresh breath of hope”, breathing color into what was once a bleak outlook. Her passion and sincerity in which she told us her journey reflected to me that within this world of chaos ceaselessly unfolding, there are still havens that point us to the light.