I was doing a beautiful outdoor wedding at Casa del Moro in Balboa Park, a city park open to the public and a magnet for street artists and panhandlers.
Casa del Moro itself is private but lies just steps from the public area.
About five minutes into the ceremony, I heard distant singing that quickly grew to a loud crescendo. While it was quite lovely, it was beginning to interfere with the Rabbi’s words and guests were starting to look around.
I followed the sound of the singing upstairs where I found a homeless woman belting out opera at the top of her lungs. She was collecting tips in an overturned hat.
As luck would have it, I just happened to have a twenty dollar bill in my pocket. When I dropped it in the hat, a big smile came over the woman’s face. I told her that her music was beautiful then politely asked that she stop singing for the thirty minutes it would take for the ceremony to be done.
The woman was more than happy to oblige. She picked the twenty dollars up, placed her hat on her head and walked away.
These days I carry a spare twenty with me to every wedding because it’s true what they say: money talks. Sometimes, it even sings.
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