the next 50 needs more music
Alex practicing her guitar at home. Monday, July 3rd, 2017.
It's July, which is my birth month -- and this year is a big one, I'm turning 50! Because I swim in a gene pool shared by long livers (three of my grandparents lived past 95, and one lived until 102!), I figure I'm only halfway done. So to celebrate my birthday, I've decided that for every day for the first two weeks of this month, I'm going to share images and words representing what I hope the next 50 years will have more of. Time to say it and claim it, by gum. And maybe, if what I say resonates with you, you'll be inspired to get more of these things for your next 50 years, too.
Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything.
~ Plato
It's no secret to anyone who has visited Chookooloonks for any amount of time that music means a lot to me -- there's a reason that I have a "soundtrack" to most of my posts. I love music -- all kinds. In fact, whenever I travel, I try to get a CD of the local music; the playlist I listen to in my car has everything from country to bossa nova to rock to R&B to soca to merengue to traditional Ethiopian and Kenyan music -- and that's just the first 10 songs or so. I live for music.
I mentioned a few days ago that I used to go dancing almost every weekend -- the same is true for live music. I've attended more concerts than I can count; so many, that often a song will come on, and I'll suddenly remember that I forgot I'd attended a concert when the artist was on tour, a memory I hadn't thought about in years. (Most recently, I remembered going to see Tracy Chapman. It was in a huge arena, and I had second row seats, and she was magical.) But of course, after becoming a parent, my concert-going days screeched to almost a standstill.
Until recently.
Alex has been taking guitar lessons for 3 years now, and it is definitely her passion. She talks about studying guitar for university, and making a musical career for herself. And now that she's a teenager, it's becoming easier (and educational!) to take her various concerts. So far, we've taken her to see Weezer and U2, and it has only stoked her determination to become a professional musician. It makes sense to keep taking her to concerts.
So here's to the next 50 years including lots of live music -- maybe even one day, sitting second row in a huge arena, watching my daughter play.
Soundtrack: Music use it, performed by Lalomie Washburn
Also for my birthday, I thought I'd give a nice, deep discount to one of my most popular online courses, GLOW: a 21-day ecourse for claiming your light! So if you'd like to get more light in your life, enter coupon code WATCHMEGLOW for 30% off the course. It really is a great course: one participant said she was so happy to rediscover "how blessed I am in my life"; another said, "GLOW came into my life at the perfect time. It is slowly changing my mental state and I have been focusing on the positives for the first time in ages." So join me. It's the perfect self-care for the summer.