"Sell Your Cleverness and Buy Bewilderment" —Rumi

“I don’t know how to do this, but something inside me does.”
”Every no is a gift.”
”We get to keep the miracle by giving it away.”
—Paul Williams

I like to dive deep when researching my interview subjects. And yet no amount of research could have prepared me fully for my surprise talk with Paul Williams. Because the Oscar-, Golden Globe- and Grammy-winning songwriter, who’s also in the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame, and the president of ASCAP, is a fount of wisdom. A gift that keeps on giving. And I’m pretty sure….also now my friend?

Two years ago, a writer in Colorado named Amanda McCracken asked me to be on her podcast. A month before we recorded my episode, I posted on Instagram a photo: My brother had sent me The Muppet Movie soundtrack album for my birthday, since “Rainbow Connection” was a song I recorded to honor the last item from our dad’s bucket list, “Have five songs recorded.” (Well, it was the last item for me—my dad had written it fourth.) Neither my brother nor I yet knew that in two months, my vocal from that recording would be played on CBS Sunday Morning, on Father’s Day, the week my book would come out. When I shared the photo, my new friend Amanda the podcaster commented on it. Her neighbor’s dad wrote the song, she said.

Oh. THAT’S interesting.

I asked Amanda if she thought I could contact her neighbor Sarah, whose dad was the great Paul Williams, and she said yes. So I did. But not for another month. Not until after my book had come out, the CBS Sunday Morning segment had aired, and I was now on my way out west.

When I wrote to Sarah I invited her to the reading I was about to give. It turned out she had plans. But she shared something amazing with me: Her dad knew who I was. He had WATCHED ME ON CBS. Paul Williams had heard me singing his song. And he had called her to tell her about it that Father’s Day.

I shared this news with the producers at CBS as well as the correspondent who interviewed me. But I thought that was the end of it.

Until a week ago.

My book has won an award.

In a few weeks, I will visit Greensboro, NC, where My Father’s List will be presented with the One City, One Book Award. The entire city of Greensboro, all 300,000 residents, have been encouraged to read my book, and then come out to learn more about it from me. Authors do not generally visit for more than a few days, but I’m going for 17. I got excited by all the events my book could lend itself to. A bucket list is a versatile topic. And the library let me not only plan many of the events, but also populate them. I’m so proud that the official brochure is loaded with the bios of my friends. Much like my book.

One of the events is a film festival—the eight movies that inspired My Father’s List. Naturally one of them is The Muppet Movie. So on a lark, I emailed the daughter of Paul Williams last week, once again. I told her I wondered if her dad might be interested in recording a short intro to the movie, sharing about how he wrote Rainbow Connection with composer Kenny Ascher. Sarah said, “Why don’t you ask him yourself?” Paul was CC’ed on her email

EEEEEP!

I’d managed to convince President Jimmy Carter and the Pope to write me back. Could I convince Paul Williams?

Paul responded the next day. He remembered my segment on CBS. He suggested that I interview him myself, so Greensboro could see “both of our sparkly personalities.” He told me my project exemplified the “elegance of kindness.” A phrase he’d invented to describe Jim Henson.

We were traveling for my husband’s birthday when Paul’s email arrived. I was still busy with pitching to media outlets in Greensboro about my upcoming events. But I soon added to the pitches “and an intro to The Muppet Movie by Paul Williams, who wrote the title song!”

Well, that day is today. The Muppet Movie will play in Greensboro, at the Hemphill Branch, at noon. And just before the movie, the audience will be treated with a 14-minute segment of Paul Williams on the origins of “Rainbow Connection.” The song that inspired my father and me when I was a child. The song my dad sang, in Kermit’s voice. The song I sang to honor him. The song that took on new meaning as I finished my dad’s bucket list: I had become one of the dreamers. I had become someone who heard voices calling my name. I knew what it meant when Kermit said, “It’s something that I’m supposed to be.”

As I have muddled through the past two years, as someone who’s lost as much as she’s gained, I still live by this mantra.

I cried happy tears yesterday, overwhelmed by this full-circle moment. One of my earliest memories is my dad egging me on to run around the room screaming with joy when The Muppet Show came on.

I suppose that’s happening now, too.

Thanks, Dad.

And thank you, Paul Williams.

Here is the longer version of our interview.

I hope to see you next month in Greensboro!