Music Man

Music fills my house every day.  It's thanks mostly to my son, Joseph, 13 who is our resident Music Man.  He started playing piano when he was 6 and mastered a lovely concerto courtesy of his brilliant teacher who was "old school" and demanded perfection.  Then, he took up electric guitar at 10, taking lessons from a 55-yo hipster who thrills to introducing him to classic rock and bluegrass, picking, strumming, and riffing his way through the oldies.  He also plays his guitar in the Jazz Band at school jamming to "Soul Man" and bluesy holiday songs for the upcoming concert in December.  Joseph chose the drums in 6th grade for the middle school band, and plays the bass, timpani, and trap set in Concert band, as well as African drums in the World Drumming corp.  He even beats a metal garbage can, plastic bucket or two and sweeps a push broom in the Trash Can corp alongside friends.  Yesterday he told me that he had "picked up" the string bass from a friend at school and was thinking of switching to orchestra in high school.  Oh, and he has a lovely voice which he uses in church choir every week to sing beautiful choral arrangements that make his mother cry.  Aside from his personal repertoire, his taste in listening music runs toward rap and electronica which is usually blasting too loudly from the computer in the kitchen where he is arranging and rearranging loops or laying down beats to produce his own songs.  Last but not least, he dances.  Yep, he can do a mean "Spongebob" or "Dougie", which is cool if you're into hip hop!  So, my well-rounded music man keeps my ears ringing, my heart humming and my groove on most days. I'm thankful for that.  Joyful, mellow, musical soul, my Joseph and I love that he shares his gifts.

Life Lesson #2

Life isn't fair!  It's good to learn this at a young age, but not necessarily the hard way.  A girl in our town, Mariah, age 15 was diagnosed with Stage III Hodgkin's Lymphoma today.  Her mom, Melissa, is a friend of mine.  Mariah has been sick for a month with pneumonia, fatigue, and now the stomach flu on top of it all.  She is a very bright, musically-inclined, active girl who got blindsided.  The whole family did!  Melissa just thought her daughter was run down and going through life at much too fast a pace.  She didn't expect a serious illness, let alone a cancer diagnosis.  Mariah is taking it pretty well.  She is trying to find the humor in being told you have cancer when you are vomiting from stomach flu.  It's tough to laugh at, but she is trying.  She will have 6 months of chemotherapy followed by radiation treatment and then hopefully she will recover.  She is a determined young woman, and is full of hopes and dreams that will be her strength.  She is supposed to play her bass in the pit orchestra for her high school's play this month.  Instead, she will be in the hospital with hard-core medication on board to kill her cancer cells.  That's a bitter pill to swallow...literally.  Life isn't fair.

Life Lesson #1

Sportsmanship-it's the name of the game!  My oldest son, Sam, age 15 has been running on the local HS cross country team all fall.  He is a freshman and this is his 2nd year on the team.  He has had a successful season, achieving a personal best time at almost every meet he has run.  Cutting 5 minutes off his times from last year and stepping up to the Varsity squad were the highlights of the season for him.  Last week, the team qualified for the State competition and Sam was named the first alternate, getting to train and travel with the big dogs.  He was thrilled, a bit apprehensive, but excited and nervous all at the same time.

Amid training with the upperclassman and more experienced runners, Sam has learned a valuable life lesson.  Sportsmanship!  He has learned that it's not always who comes in first, but who comes in best that counts.  Sometimes best is the guy who stumbles halfway through the race, but picks himself up and completes the race limping across the finish line, with a smile on his face.  Best might be the team everyone calls "The Machine" because they are THAT good and their guys always finish in the first 5 spots, but who turn around after every race and cheer in their competition, until the very last runner crosses the finish line.  Best is definitely the senior on Sam's team who coaches the younger guys before every race, walking them through the course and reassuring them that they can do it.  He always finishes ahead of the pack, but then he thanks the team for running with him and pushing him to achieve his personal goals.  Best was Sam at the meet when he placed 2nd behind a teammate who had never won a race before and Sam celebrated with Ben louder and longer than anyone.  That's what team sports are all about, being your best, each and every day for the good of the group and for the guy ahead of or behind you.

Hanging on!

 I have landed on middle age.  You have to be in it for awhile before it sinks in...I'm here, I'm on the branch in between growing up and growing old, and I'm hanging on.  It's a time of life we all know is coming, but is hard to prepare for.  You get there quickly and settle in slowly.   I've watched my parents age, my siblings separate, my husband quiet and my children stretch.  At the same time, I've done all of that too.  It makes me look back with a lot more clarity and ahead with a bit more caution and just keep hanging on.