This past week I have been around music in a magical way, filling me with bliss. Twice in one week! And me? I love days that bring me new things, different experiences, happy surprises.

I went to my dear friend Becca’s home for supper Tuesday evening. I met both her husband Neeraj and her younger son Rehaan for the first time and we all had such a relaxing time together. Neeraj was born in India and cooked us some amazing Indian dishes. Yummy! Rehaan is sixteen years young and very outgoing with lots of energy. And if you begin to talk about music with him he lights up like a shining spotlight on a darkened stage. Classical music is his favorite which thrilled me as I love classical music, too. While driving my car, Silly Tilly, I rarely play anything but classical music.

Rehaan has been playing the euphonium horn for six years. In the above picture Rehaan is sitting with his musical instrument after playing me a short piece of music. I had watched him, the music sheet in front of him, blowing into the horn and at the same time pressing his fingertips down on the valves, creating the different notes that floated out into the living room of their home, that brass instrument singing to me. I knew immediately music was Rehaan’s passion. The energy coming off of him was so alive. He was living in the moment. He recently applied to the Governor’s School for the Arts at University of Kentucky and was accepted. He will be attending music classes there for the month of July. He told me he has plans for his life and it’s all about playing classical music. It was such a pleasure listening to him play and to talk about his dreams. And who doesn’t love a horn?

Wednesday night I attended a local concert here in Louisville with my dear friend Lori. The Earth Wind and Fire band opened the show, singing some of their oldies but goodies from back in the 70’s and 80’s. They were amazing! More horns; the trumpet, trombone, and saxophone all made their appearances with these talented musicians. I had not been to a live music concert for a few years. I have to admit when we walked into that arena to find our seats I wasn’t sure my ears could handle the intensity of that loud music. All the noise! Wow! It stopped me in my tracks for a few seconds. I remember thinking perhaps I was a little too old for live concerts. Maybe those days were gone for me. But I got over it really quick. The music just became a part of me, and my ears adjusted. I am so glad I overcame my doubts about the noise and the crowd. This is something I need to do more often. I realized I could miss out on my life if I become too overly cautious, too set in my ways. And once I started to look around me I saw all kinds of people there my age or older.

Lionel Richie was the star of the show that night. By the time he walked out on stage I was movin’ and groovin’, dancing in place in front of my seat, just like Lori and the thousands of other fans present. Mr. Richie gave us an incredible night filled with music. Old songs like ‘Endless Love,’ ‘Still,’ ‘Say you, Say Me’, ‘Three Times a Lady’, and ‘Brick House’, just to name a few. Between the music and all the memories that can come flowing back to me, I was feeling like I was thirty years old again. So fun and so energized! And people remembered the words, so at times it was like one huge family singing a sing-along. Magical.

Something else Lionel Richie gave me Wednesday night was a big injection of confidence. Lionel Richie is seventy-four years young. As I watched him moving around that stage, and listened to him belt out those songs and play that piano, I thought, “I can do anything. Look at him. I am sixty-six years young. And just like him I can do anything”. It’s that feeling…just makes me feel awesome and helps me continue to write, my own passion. I also came to the conclusion that there is something more polished, more charismatic, more confident about those of us out there doing things we have done well for decades. It’s like we are this bright light that just gets brighter in all aspects of our lives.

So I am thinking, two fine gentlemen, one sixteen years young, one seventy-four years young, both choosing to put energy into their own dreams for their own lives. Lionel Richie thanked us all for helping his dreams come true when as a young man he “dreamed of singing in front of millions of people”. Now, “Blink-blink, here I am fifty years later,” he said. I want to thank both of these gentlemen for singing my dreams back to me. It is such a wonderful feeling!

c   Love, Joan