Friends, I started the week off with the most magnificent sounds of the season you can imagine!
And here’s me with three members of Mannheim Steamroller’s Red Touring Group!
Three Members of the Red Touring Group
L-R: Jeff Yang, Tom Sharpe, Joey Gulizia
I’ve listened to them for YEARS, and here they showed up in my backyard!
Okay, not literally of course, but practically in my back yard! AND they indulged me with this photo…
(though the poor violinist on the left might not be so charitable the next time…looks like I nearly sliced his neck with my program!)
If you’ve never heard their Christmas you must run, RUN I tell you, to the nearest store and pick up any one of their Christmas CD’s.
I promise you will LOVE EVERY NANO SECOND OF THE SHOW.
And if you ever have the chance to see one of the touring groups in person, ditch the dress heels, strap on your running shoes and get to the ticket counter as fast as you can.
This music is even more spectacular in person, and these band members?
Every single one of them plays multiple instruments, as in like four or five or more!
No kidding.
And the one drummer, Tom Sharpe, it’s as if those drum sticks are a fluid extension of his body. I’ve never seen anything like it folks; his body Feels. Every. Single. Note.
Honestly. It’s like he IS the music itself.
Want to know what I decided as I sat in that audience?
If I had a bucket list, attending a Mannheim Steamroller concert would be at the top of it.
When I told the band director that during the meet and greet after the show, he smiled and told me, “Just be sure to make it a long list.”
I’ve never been the groupie type, but there’s a first for everything isn’t there…
And, then there’s the figurative music to my ears…
Things like, “My children will be home for Christmas” and “My children will be home for Christmas.”
That’s worth a chorus line, don’t you think?!
The week wouldn’t be complete without the next installment in the Soon-to-be-50 cards my mother has been sending.
Fifty is like the most glorious harmony to me because I’ve survived, Journeyers.
I’ve lived through puberty and bulimia and depression and child loss and miscarriage and motherhood and infidelity (times two) and a fire that claimed our family business and it’s been seven years since I kicked a twenty-six year nicotine addiction.
I’ve cried and laughed and given up and stood up and I am here, turning fifty and finally, finally knowing what I want to be now that I’m all grown up.
Which means that the best years are ahead of me!
And get this—people are actually going to pay me to be older.
I don’t know about you, but I think that’s one mighty fine birthday gift, one that just keeps on giving, day in and day out.
This group is going to give me discounts and put more money in my pocket for things like trips to NYC and Europeand Nacogdoches, TX, and for those delicious smelling perfumes I love.
Who knows, maybe those savings will begin today while I’m out enjoying a little holiday shopping!
And I do mean enjoy, Journeyers. If you’re out and about, I hope you, too, will not think of gift giving as a chore, but something you are doing from the heart…
If you are stressed about it, then don’t do it…schedule a time for after the holidays to gather with friends and extended family…
It won’t be the end of the world. I promise.
Christmas, after all, isn’t about commercialism; it’s about the music of that moment we call birth…life…
May you feel your own heart songs in the coming week, Journeyers…
What about you? What musical or other Moments(s) fed your happy this week?
Speaking of life and the heart, Warren and I finished out the week by attending a Lee Greenwood and Crystal Gayle holiday concert.
Though we were two of the youngest audience members, we couldn’t have felt more united when Lee sang Proud to be an American!
Ditching my purse at the last second meant that I forgot my phone, which means that I didn’t get a single photo for this post or for my mom, who adores Mr. Greenwood!
That’s the great thing about imagination, though; it’s the next best thing to being there!
10 Comments on “Music to My Ears”
I love your attitude!! I too enjoyed turning 50 – it was both liberating and empowering. You go girl!
Thanks for stopping by, Sharon! Yes, 50 is liberating and empowering! So glad to meet another who feels the same way! 🙂
You are an inspiration — you should be very proud!
Thank you for those kind words, Carol. I am happy you enjoyed your time here, and hope you’ll return again and again. 🙂
Thank you for coming by my blog, Annah! Congratulations on all of your big news! I look forward to reading more! (I also love Mannheim Steamroller!
And thank you for stopping by here, as well! See you around! 🙂
Never understood why people act so weird about turning 50, I never complain about getting a year older, there are too many ways to die. And alive is way better than dead.
Barbara, I know people who are weirded out by turning 35, so there are plenty out there who find aging uncomfortable… I have a theory that they feel this way because they aren’t living their best lives and are being held back by things like fear…
Maybe those of us who approach the future with excitement will be unsuspecting mentors… 🙂
I think that you are completely right Annah-some allow fear to hold them back and anyone who has you as a mentor would-no should be grateful! You are such an inspiration!
Awww…Anonymous…thank you for those kind sentiments. And thank you for being her and for commenting. 🙂 Could I entice you to share my links with your circles of friends? And ask them to share me with their circles of friends, if, of course, they find the same appreciation? If you’re on Facebook, find me at The Five Facets, and watch for some exciting news to come soon. (Hint…I’ll be running a giveaway for a signed copy of my newly-released book.) 🙂
Thanks again, Journeyer…look forward to connecting again in these here parts… 🙂