I imagine you are waist deep in the excellent “decade’s-end” Sunday New York Times – with special sections on what just happened, who died, and what we might be looking forward to. There is even excellent children’s section on the body. As you know, we are all being whipsawed around by too much. Too much of everything. We cannot keep track, and are often distracted – even to the point sometimes of losing sight of the way forward.
So I will keep this simple. I am continuing to venture into the world of community building by nurturing a sense among people of what I call the contentment that comes from belonging. One of the ways I do this is by presenting music in two venues. Every month on the first Wednesday, we play at the Lilypad in Inman Square, Cambridge, and on the first Thursday we play at Spice Thai Kitchen, in Ipswich. Our small gatherings may not bring as many people together as, say, a bowling league or a church group, a PTA committee or working on a local election. But it is what I am compelled to do, how I choose to be part of the world that I live in and make.
The generosity I experience while listening and paying attention is multiplied as we do it together. It is simple and magical at the same time. As the sound — in so many ways out of our control — appears in awareness, we sense that it both excites and soothes, both satisfies and defies our expectations. And we are closer, more open, and grateful. At least that is my deepest intention.