Hello good and faithful blog followers,
As is the trend, I am writing entries when you least expect them or have given up hope of ever seeing anything from me again. (If you ever had that hope in the first place.) I have been thinking of writing to you on this page, but I will spare you the excuses this time around. Suffice it to say, I have been remiss, and lots of stuff has happened that did not get recorded and will likely be forgotten. In fact, yesterday, I was going to write to you an amusing/heartwarming account of our first lost pet fish, Blueberry Muffin, who was sadly found crumpled beside the coral in our tank. Maybe another day...
Some of you may recall that upon moving back to Virginia, I gave up my career in real estate to work with my friends in a variety of capacities at their production company. This has been a fairly intelligent move on my part. Well done, me. One of the reasons that it has been such a good move is that the quality of the people I have befriended who now employ me, is of the highest caliber. They are really quite generous of spirit. They are some of the most hospitable people I have ever known.
Currently, I am sitting in a theater space on the campus of West Virginia University, listening to my friend and colleague lead a student orchestra and a gorgeous cello soloist in rehearsal for a memorial concert honoring his piano professor and friend, who was lost to cancer a year ago. I am on the verge of tears, and not just because the first violins cannot seem to master measure 31. ...And so, I write, to focus my thoughts and to avoid losing my composure, here in the auditorium, surrounded by young strangers.
I did not know this woman, who so profoundly impacted my friend's musical life; I do not intimately understand the circumstances of her illness and passing; I am simply moved by the gesture of students and colleagues gathering, one year later, to mark her life and contributions to the musical vibrancy of this place. It is a beautiful thing. I also know that she must have been some teacher, to have cultivated in her one special student, whom I do happen to know, such discipline and love in his musical career. I know that, in that way, I have, in fact, been touched by her legacy. What a gift: to teach and to impact so many, even those on the ripple fringes of your life's work. This weekend, I will meet more people who did know her well, and that will likely dissolve me into an emotional puddle.
Of course, it is not lost on me that I was raised by educators, and they are advancing in years with their own health challenges. One day, I will be drying tears over far harder losses than a pet fish that we'd only owned for four days. I hope that, well before that dreaded day comes, I can honor their legacy and celebrate their gifts to the world. I hope that I can do that while they are still around to share stories and join the party. So, to that end, I am resolving to get one of those celebrations on the calendar. Mom and Dad both have "significant" birthdays next year-- one in May and the other in July. In the meantime, I'm going to seek memories and stories from those who have been touched, however briefly, by their lives. And, I am for sure going to tell them every day that I love them so very much. Then, we will have a party. There will be music. There will be happiness. There will be cheese. I so decree it.
