All of Me

By the time I got home, I realized I had logged 15 hours of flights, 10 hours of airports and 2 more hours getting to and from airports. Got into bed at 1:30 in the morning, up at 6:30, unpacked from the trip and off to meet the Men’s Group folks by 10:00 am. Home for lunch and a little piano practice and off to the Jewish Home, where all my elder friends greeted me warmly and thankfully, all were still with us on this planet. At the end of the hour, my Pentatonic’s buddies met me and we went over some tunes to prepare for my gig at Bird & Beckett bookstore in a couple of hours, where I alternately read from my Jazz, Joy & Justice book and played the tunes of the musicians I talked about, with piano, bass and trombone. 

 

This was the perfect place to combine music and words, a bookstore that hosts almost daily jazz concerts and was named for Charlie Parker and Samuel Beckett. It was an intimate space and felt quite full. Especially satisfying to have my daughter and boyfriend, wife and biking friends, two old college friends and many surprise alum parents, alongside some people who just come to the venue to check out whoever is there. The whole thing was two hours long with a short 10-minute break and I could have easily gone on for another two (or four!) hours. 

 

During that whole busy should-have-been-exhausted from a little jet lag (5 hour time different in Brazil) and so- much-time-traveling day, I was at peak energy, testimony to the energizing effects of doing what one loves. Especially when it's music! The next day (today), I went to an Orff workshop a colleague gave and re-connected with that community. 

As of now, my calendar is quite open for the next three weeks or so and that should be relaxing and refreshing, but maybe not as much as the teaching and performing. As I’ve told my daughter, who wonders why I don’t chill out more instead of working so much, this work is my Hawaii beach. I love doing the things that use all of me. The solitary thinker, the expressive artist, the inspired teacher, the community gatherer, all the selves that I’ve worked to cultivate over a lifetime given an opportunity to keep exercising and aspire yet higher to their promises and possibilities. Grateful for it all.

 

But tomorrow, it’s shopping and laundry.