Cynthia’s Life Story
Born and raised in Tacoma, Washington, except for a little jaunt to Iowa for her 8th year. The beautiful Pacific Northwest was the playground in which Cynthia’s journey began. It is to this place I wish to take you for just moment so that you can better understand the story behind the making of this music maker.
As a child she loved playing outdoors in nature and would pretend to cook food and make tea from the leaves, flowers and bark she gathered. After that, she and her friends would sing and dance to her sprouting music. That was when she only had a chord organ, guitar and harmonica.
She dreamed of the day she would receive her first piano. She wondered what the house she would someday live in would look like. She hoped it would be surrounded by nature. She was a 6 year old girl with big dreams who loved music more than everything else.
That dream piano finally arrived in the most unexpected way when she was just 12 years old. (A story for another time) A favorite memory of her mother was tucking all the siblings into bed and listening to her own private concert in the evenings.
She loved playing board games with her father and siblings, riding bikes and going fishing. She was always surrounded by gardens, and wonderful creatures like chickens, geese, and rabbits. Growing up around fruit and nut trees, berries, grapes and home-cooking, she learned the skills needed for self-sufficiency as well as the value of hard work. Her mom taught her to preserve foods from the harvest, sew and crochet. She continues all those practices and more including baking sourdough bread for others every week.
Not everything was always peaceful and serene however, and at a very young age, Cynthia understood the healing power of music to calm and nurture the heart and comfort the soul. She learned early how to read her emotions and turn them into music. She started writing down ideas for songs and at the tender age of 12 wrote her first song.
It was in this beautiful place that she met her husband and best friend Mark. The first time they met, Cynthia played the piano. It was love at first note. Mark was an adventurous guy who took her from the city and into the mountains for their first date chaperoned by her baby brother. She not only fell in love with him but also with the wild and rugged places all around the Pacific Northwest that they explored together. They have made so many memories in the Cascade mountains, San Juan Islands, Alaska and so many other amazing places located just a few hours in any direction from the place they call home.
Once the children came along, one by one they were introduced to the forests. They camped and adventured and still do. Sometimes spending weeks at a time living in tents, hunting and fishing for food and cooking over an open fire. Together they have created a beautiful life complete with four amazing kids, a sweet little granddaughter and a family business creating award winning waterfalls.
Cynthia loves the art of a handwritten letter, a table well-set, a date to watch the sunset, and a musical instrument in hand.
Give her a hammock by a waterfall, an open fire in a wild place, an instrument and a paint set and she will be busy relaxing for hours. When finished she’ll have a delicious meal ready for all to enjoy, often a brand new song to sing or play, or a painting to hang on the wall to mark her adventure.
She dreams of owning a camper van in the not too distant future where she can continue making more adventures with her loves. She dreams of a chance to perform music on ships/yachts locally or abroad. She loves being on the open water and enjoys immense happiness living on the property where her husband and son have created such an abundance of beauty by surrounding her with the most amazing water features anyone could ever wish for.