Music and love

Feels like I am revisiting things I talked about in my initial post, so to continue the theme, tonight is all about music. As I type, the iPod classic is playing Joe Jackson, who I discovered thru a friend while we were in graduate school. I try to be open about all the music in the world, and I am happy to say that my tastes are all over the map. Mr. Jackson keeps company with Linda Ronstadt, The Pixies, Sia, Lucinda Williams, Eminem, Schubert, Deadmau5, Beethoven, The Gin Blossoms, Miguel Bose, Ana Tijoux, Sting, and many others. Spotify has been my best musical friend lately, with my Discover and Release Radar playlists leading me to new artists. My disavowal of country music was thrown out the window not long after my young man and I got together. He loves this genre a lot, and while there are still songs or artists I keep at arm's length, I would be lying if I did not say I enjoy some it. Dwight Yoakum makes me happy, even though he seems to cry in a lot of his songs. Lucinda Williams made me cry at her concert almost two years ago when she sang "Unsuffer Me." This past February in Oakland, we got to see what we think was Merle Haggard's last concert; I even bought a Western shirt so I would not feel out of place. I love to slow dance with my young man when his friends play twangy love songs; my cute cowboy boots make me just the right height for looking into his beautiful blue eyes. I have seen Yo-Yo Ma once and Joshua Bell twice, and wish I had the smallest bit of their talent. I still perform with the community band, but I cannot play the way I played my first year of college. Nonetheless, to be able to be a part of a group that makes music makes me happy. Whether it's Christmas music I know from muscle memory after thirty years or a challenging piece where the page is black with notes, Theodore, my clarinet, and I will play with heart. I have friends all over the country, some of whom I have known since I was fourteen years old, because of our love of music. I've played on muddy football fields, beautiful concert halls, Grant's Grove in Sequoia National Forest, my high school amphitheater, and in the open air with the Grand Tetons as the backdrop. I can never be grateful enough for those experiences and the incredible fun I had with my fellow musicians, whether we were at music camp in Stockton, on tour with the marching band, or putting on black to play a formal concert. Playing, listening to, discovering, dancing to, singing music that moves me--that makes my life so much richer. Music is love.