Long Time Coming
This post has been a long time coming, and I’ve missed you, but hopefully this will make it worth your while:
I remember a wise woman, the mother of a friend told me, “laugh whenever you can, even now”. I was a 29 year old widow, suddenly faced with burying my beloved after only 10 months and 4 days of marriage. As the days, weeks and months of grieving went on, I often remembered her words. Laughter is like a ray of sunshine breaking through the darkest clouds, even if only for a moment. With everything going on around us, I’m hoping, with this post, to provide a short burst of light through some clouds.
I want to talk about the dangerous new trend of wearing mis-matched socks. It seems that, in order to combat the invisible sock-thieving troll located in washrooms all over the country, some people have started to adapt a can’t-beat-’em-so-join-’em strategy. This trend causes a downward spiral in which not only the person starting the trend, but the whole household, ends up with NO matching socks. The troll himself was more merciful. In spite of 3 sock purchases within the last year, the troll and my sock-thieving, mis-match sock wearing 13-year-old have reduced me to 2 full bins of single socks. IS THERE TINDER FOR SOCKS?!! This plague began slowly about two years ago and has taken over my home. If you have children or anyone in your home willing to flaut simple sock conventionality, I warn you, stop them now! Additionally, if you have ideas on curative measures for this great societal ill, please message me on Twitter, fb or IG. (Did you click? See what I did there? If you have power, water and internet, don’t talk about it, just do it!)
I met an old friend today. It was the kind of chance meeting that makes the world a brighter, shinier place. As we shared stories and pictures of children, goddogs and granddogs, she told me that her husband says, “Coincidences are when God wants to remain anonymous”.
In May I usually think of my mom. It’s been 13 years but I still miss her. I also think about my son. He’s so much like her and our relationship reminds me of not what I lost when my mother departed this earthly realm, but what I still have. What I still have from her. This month alone I played 4 gigs with my kid bassist. On Mother’s Day we did my arrangement of Ed Sheeran’s “Supermarket Flowers”. There wasn’t a dry eye in the church. Earlier this month we performed “Sing My Song” from my CD 
John F. Kennedy once said we don’t need to look for the Republican answer or the Democrat answer, but the right answer. This sentiment seems to be lost. As I watch politics play out in my country, I feel like I’m watching a bad reality TV show. Wars are bloody, and this feels like war. Unless we are to parcel off land and divide it among the current warring factions, we must find a way to get to unifying ground, lest we sink in the mire of hatred and division. How many people will die if “Obamacare” explodes? What will the casualty count be if Trump fails at presiding? What are the costs if the only policy is to repeal any and everything Obama? What are the consequences if the GOP can’t unite and reach across the aisle to build policy with Democrats, or if Democrats petulantly say no to any olive branch offered?
You probably know ‘one’. Maybe it’s the one black IT person at your office or the one mom in the hijab in your PTA. Maybe it’s the one Mexican family at your church or even the lone white woman in your Hip Hop aerobics class. You exchange niceties, make occasional pleasant small talk and then retreat to your separate lives. Ones seem integrated enough but for many, especially today, there’s an outsider feel to the one-ness.
full-time musician, this space was filled with the happenings from my last gig or the eager excitement about my next one. Since going from full-time musician to full-time teacher/mom it’s a space that’s becoming more about navigating the world on my own while raising a boy to become a man. It’s becoming more thoughtful, more reflective, and I hope more honest, in a keep-it-real-but-don’t-overshare kind of way. So…here goes…
That’s my Big Job now, pushing through, modeling responsible citizenship and maintaing a safe space to talk about fear, fairness, freedoms and keeping the faith. Some of that I’ll do here, some at the homework table. Much of it I’ll do in my corner of the world where trust evolves, faith defeats fear and coming together begins. These are difficult times but if we begin to really talk and listen to one another, I know we can all push through.
