Thank you for the music!

When I was in second grade, I lived in Florida, and on certain Summer nights after dinner, my folks and I would ride our bikes around the neighborhood, pedaling through the cooling air and sharing in some family time. I don't have a direct recollection of my Dad on a bike, but hey, Mom says he rode one so I've gotta believe her.

One of my favorite places we'd ride by was the local high school, where we could hear the community band practicing since they'd leave the doors and windows open for the air. I've loved music since birth and this experience is my earliest active memory of it. We would stop, hop off the bikes and sit on the grass, listening to the band play. I was in heaven. I can recall just how the grass felt on my bare legs and the smell of the night air, heavy with tropical, warm aromas and the promise of yet another day full of childhood joys to follow the next morning.

The band, being a band and not an orchestra, played a lot of Sousa marches and of course, the trumpets were always so prominent that I couldn't help but fall in love with the loud, brassy and bright excitement they produced for me. This was what I wanted to play, yes, the wonderful and magical trumpet!

And lo and behold, my parents let me play that trumpet. I'm sure I didn't produce the most dulcet of tones at that point, but they indeed let me toot and honk and do my 7-year old best. I was so happy - this was my soul getting to shout and dance, the heavy weight of the instrument telling me that I could do it, even if no other girls were. This was telling me that I could be a great musician, that I could be strong enough to keep going and be famous (like a lot of kids, that was my dream, to be rich and famous)!

I no longer need or necessarily want to be famous, but I do need to play that horn as well as any other instrument I can get my hands on, including most especially my voice. Music is my soul's expression, my passion, what makes me soar with joy, feeling as if my feet hover above the ground as I'm doing it. Making music with others is even more incredible for me, sharing the magic of creating beautiful sound together, knowing that this is happening right in this moment and is wonderful just as it is. Sometimes, I think I'll burst from happiness when I'm singing harmonies or playing along with others, for the love fills me to overflowing.

I've known ever since I was a small child that music made me happy, made me soar, made me feel full of love. I didn't know how to express it, so I just played, and later, when I discovered my voice, sang. It's my panacea, my comfort, my excitement and my serenity. I can think of nothing I'd rather do in this world than create music; there's never a time when it doesn't fill me with incredible joy.

It is everything to me.

I feel so grateful for the ability to make music in so many different ways. I feel as if it's a gift from the Universe to myself, and if others enjoy it, too, well, that's just mocha icing on a dark chocolate cake (and y'all know how I feel about chocolate)!

Last night I was once again privileged to play with an amazing musician, Namoli Brennet (www.namolibrennet.com), and once again, I was transported to that place of incredible, nearly indescribable joy that only making music with another person can produce. It's a high like no other, and I will continue to seek that high every day until it's time to spend my last breath here.

To quote a favorite group of mine, that famous Swedish pop quartet who made unique and creative fashion statements while holding the nation captive with their infectious songs, "Thank you for the music...for giving it to me."