"I Knew...What I Wanted To Do For The Rest of My Life"

I regularly field letters, texts, emails and inbox messages from business associates to well informed fans to casual admirers. Yet, it was an open letter from a young man I'd met, during the heyday of my life in the music industry, that I'll never forget. It wasn't your average 'great music', or, 'I'm your biggest fan'. He took great care in detailing the reason he felt it important to write me a message 22 years later. Today, it still brings me to tears having had that much influence on someone by simply doing my job. Sure, I was performing at a peak level, but, I deeply enjoy what I do. His letter was proof that it showed. The lesson I took away was one never truly knows who's watching and what impact a thing you do may have on them. Do your work with dedication and precision. We could be mentoring someone from afar. Be mindful that encouraging and edifying others is always the rule, never an exception. We owe that to each other, so, thank you, Juan Maserati. Here's his heartfelt letter:

Dear Michael,

I don't know if you actually remember me way back then but back in the year of 1991, I was a really an awkward & geeky 21 year old Mexican kid who had a strong desire to play keyboards even though at the time, I couldn't really afford one and yet on this particular day, it was the direct power of the Universe that placed your very presence before my path.

In fact, the whole experience was pretty surreal to where just hours before, I was taking a BART train home from working at the UPS Oakland Airport Hub and then the next thing I know, I am in Fremont, chilling at the house of MC Hammer's Music Director of which you graciously invited me over to hang out and watch MC Hammer perform live on TV at the Grammy's. And it was just several days prior, that I faithfully picked up my copy of Keyboard Magazine and saw your face on the cover. Never mind the fact that this was directly at the time period which was the very prime of MC Hammer's Career. You could have easily acted like you didn't have time for someone like me and thus shined me off just to walk away and destroy a young man's dream, but you didn't and believe it or not, I walked away from that whole experience (mostly in a daze, lol) of which I knew right then and there, what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

You wanna talk about a Mind Completely Blown away?

Whew . . .

It just so happens that all of this came back to me when I recently heard about the retirement of Chuy Gomez at the Bay Area Radio Station, KMEL. Seeing all the people that Chuy positively effected over the course of his 20 year radio career made me think about the actions of those of whom also made a significant impact on me.

And that's when suddenly, It all came back to me. :'-)

So from the very depths of my heart, I just want to say, THANK YOU for taking the time to inspire that 21 year old kid who at the time, didn't have much to begin with but just A DREAM of one day being in position to carve out his own musical path. Though at times, I went off course, I never gave up or let up and now after all these years, I am finally seeing my musical aspirations, . . .take flight.

Michael Buckholtz, Thank You for your inspiration & motivation you bestowed on to me that day. I can never fully express all thanks for what you did on that particular day. It was truly life changing and powerful [sic]

Thank You,

- Juan Maserati

Humbling only touches the surface of how I felt reading this. Do work and live life like you're making a difference, somehow, everyday. Enjoy each moment of your journey. Who knows? You may have an admirer so impressed by your example that they're thinking, "I know what I want to do for the rest of my life, now". Wouldn't that be something?