Musings Of A Rat In A Cage

Had a wang dang doodle of a weekend.

Saturday night Carol and I travelled to Hudson, MA. It's about a 37 hour ride but then again everything civilized is a 37 hour ride from my place.
We went down to enjoy my brother on stage with the Symphony Pro Musica.
This is heavy duty stuff.
An accomplished symphony orchestra, based in Hudson and Westborough Massachusetts.
This stuff is mind blowing.

The founder of the organization and conductor of the orchestra is a guy named Mark Churchill. He is affiliated with the New England Conservatory of Music, the Boston Ballet, he is an accomplished cellist who has performed throughout the United States, South America, Seoul, Hong Kong and Taiwan. He was resident conductor of the Asian Youth orchestra in Hong Kong for eleven years.
What I like best about him is that he looks like Larry David.

The featured soloist was Zlatomir Fung, who is considered to be among the world's top cellists.
He is thirteen years old.

The level of musicianship of this orchestra is stunning.
What really blows my mind is that there were around seventy five musicians on stage and only a handful were professionals, actually getting paid.
The rest were volunteers.
These are people who should be making a living playing music, accomplished individuals who spend endless hours practicing and mastering complex music so they can enthrall low wage earning whiskey drinkers like me.
They deserve to make a living doing this, they deserve to get rich doing this. They work harder than you or I, much harder, they are supremely dedicated and gifted, life should reward them.
They end up instead doing it for the sheer joy and love of it.
The world is askew.
You see this so often.
I guess there is less room at the top. You have to be one in a billion to succeed professionally in any creative endeavor, so exceptionally talented people get left by the side of the road to wonder.

Carol and I have been doing a lot of running in the last few weeks, logging a lot of miles on The Peace Mobile. We are tired. I got home from work Saturday and made myself pretty and off we went again.
An hour and a half later we were seated in an auditorium listening to the most exquisite, emotionally inspiring, soul caressing music.
What a gas.

By the way I am supremely proud of my brother, who plays percussion with this group. He has played with them before; we have enjoyed it before.
This time his schedule was busy and he told them he could not join in. They wanted him, they pursued him, and he made it work.
Let me say this more boldly - a supremely talented orchestra pursued my brother to play with them because they appreciate his talent.
I am proud of him beyond belief.
After the performance we went out for a drink and appetizers and had great conversation and laughter. Relaxing in the trust and honesty that defines family.
My brother Ed has a killer sense of humor. The waitress asked us where were from and he told her Utah. He also told her we were heading back as soon as we were done eating. She was blown away. "How long a drive is that?" "About twenty five hours" was Ed's reply. He ended up letting her down gently, as is his way. It was pretty funny. Thankfully we already had our food at that point. 

Sunday. We celebrated Emily's (our daughter-in-law I hate that label) and Craig's (our son) birthdays at Keith and Emily's home.
It was a laid back affair. Keith, Emily, Craig, Karen, Carol and me. We lounged in the living room with Jack (the cat) and Cooper(the dog), watched a lot of football courtesy of NFL RedZone, munched, chowed and mowed until bellies were swollen and souls were content. Nachos, pizza, ice cream sundaes.
You know you have a tight family when you don't feel that you have to be formal. When you can just relax like friends and talk and laugh and dig each other's company.
That is the way it should be. Once your job as a parent is done, the ultimate reward is to enjoy an easy going, honest and loving relationship with the offspring and the other humans they bring into your life.
That's what Carol and I have, and we dig it passionately.

So that's it. One hellacious weekend. Revolving around family.

That's where it's at, folks.

Right now I feel like a rat in a cage and my frustration is building to explosive proportions.

And yet I spend time marvelling at my brother's talent and enjoying his company, digging my sons and their extraordinary women, enjoying the loving company of my long suffering and magical wife, and all the bullshit melts away.

Amazing.