When you checked off a bucket list item before even knowing what that was
When I was in middle school, my band director gave us all some life advice that’s stuck with me ever since. Sometimes it’s stuck like a prickly burr between my toes and won’t come loose, but stuck nonetheless.
“Get in the parade; don’t let the parade pass you by.” 💃💃💃
He was encouraging us to get involved in life, not to stand on the sidelines and watch, but to dive in and have experiences. And lo, how I have done that. Sometimes I look around at all I do now and back at all I’ve done and I’m gobsmacked by the sheer variety.
One of my favorites was something my 16-year-old self never would have imagined. 🤯 Take a look at this photo, recently unearthed from my mom’s picture stash.
That’s me on the podium, conducting a youth flute choir I organized with the help of the Colorado Flute Association. And the gentleman playing along with us? 🎶🎵
None other than Sir James Galway, the Man With the Golden Flute. You may have heard of him. 😳
It’s been 25-ish years since this took place and I’m STILL astonished that 1) he agreed to play with this group of young flutists, 2) that I CONDUCTED SIR JAMES GALWAY OH MY GOD, and 3) there is photo proof. 📸
Life has been awfully life-y lately and kicking back to watch the parade march by has been far easier than lacing up the shoes and searching for my shako; yes, the marching band hat whose mission in life is to ruin your hairdo. But the joy and fun of life is in that parade, not the sidelines, so I guess I’ll give up on good hair and get in the parade.
It’ll just be tough to top that photo. 😏
In proofing this post, I discovered I’d written about getting in the parade before. Way back in the holy shit days of 2014 I wrote about my overwhelm and how my kid could stand to get more involved in things. I’m going to say I’m not running out of ideas but am just leveling them up. Or something.