Cosmic Prose

Natasha Regehr

Category: Inspirational (Page 3 of 3)

Exultant!

October 27, 2015 / / 3 Comments

What I Learned at my First Moroccan Choir Rehearsal:

  1. Our voices are part of what makes us who we are. Use them happily!
  2. Funny sounds are welcome here. They help us find our missing courage.
  3. Mistakes are welcome here. We enjoy being human.
  4. We are capable of great beauty. Just look at the smile on our conductor’s face when he hears our sweet crescendo.
  5. We (every one of us) can access, activate, and feel that beauty. Just look at everyone else’s faces. Our souls are showing.
  6. People are welcome here. Even people who still think in English. We don’t mind helping them wade through the French if they get a little stuck.
  7. We like each other. You can tell from all the kissing.
  8. We both use and do not use sheet music. We’re flexible that way.
  9. We are all so glad to be here; we have found our musical home.

Morocco Me: Surf’s Up!

August 13, 2015 / / 0 Comments

I am beginning to think that everyone in this world has an analogue somewhere on another continent. And that a great many of them live in Morocco.

I’m sure you know what I mean: that niggling feeling that someone reminds you of (or perhaps is) someone else. In fact, one of the very first people who greeted me in Casablanca has a vocal cadence much like one of my synchronized swimming buddies in Canada. So, in my head, I call her “Morocco Sharon.” In the confines of this small campus, I have also met Morocco Dave, Morocco Catharine, Morocco Sarah; Morocco Tania, Stephanie, Krystal, Vera, Crystal, Paul, and Darlene; and, most curiously, Morocco Snow White and Morocco Barbie.

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Tanner and the Wonder Cabbage

June 27, 2015 / / 2 Comments

This week I had the bittersweet task of saying good-bye to the wonderful folks at Jack Callaghan Public School.  One of the highlights of my time at JCPS was the opportunity to try my hand at teaching science; and as this story illustrates, it wasn’t always pretty!

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Love It and List It

June 18, 2015 / / 1 Comment

My practically perfect house is more than perfect. It is flawless. I am sitting in my beautifully staged living room, enjoying the clean, airy feeling of a place that is ready to “show.” And it will be shown, tomorrow, I hope, before my strategically placed flowers begin to wilt.

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Swan Song

May 11, 2015 / / 2 Comments

“Hey, are these guys any good?” I asked, gesturing at the Peterborough Singers brochures on the counter. It was February, 2008, and I was hauling yet another load of mistreated school band instruments to B Flat Music for a little TLC.

“Oh, yes, very good!” declared Peg McCracken.

“You’ve heard them, then?” I asked skeptically.

“Heard them? I’ve sung with them for eighteen years!”

Undaunted, I pressed her further. “What kind of music do they sing?” I was not into the flaky schmaltz that so many community choirs seem to thrive on. I made that immediately and unapologetically clear.

“Well, we’re singing Bach’s St. Matthew Passion in our next concert. You should join us!”

Wait. A. Minute. Are you telling me that a place exists in Peterborough where I can go and sing exclusively Bach for two hours a week, every single week, until May? Pinch me hard; I must be dreaming.

“Start by coming to our concert this weekend. If you like it, we can set up an audition.”

I went. The moment the choir started singing, Continue reading

I am Moving to Morocco!

April 2, 2015 / / 9 Comments

No, really, I am.

I have been tormenting my friends and acquaintances for days now with cryptic comments about exciting new developments in my mundane little life, and the day has finally come when I can shout it from the rooftops: I’m moving!

I just signed a two-year teaching contract with an international school in the legendary city of Casablanca. I’ll be teaching music to students from Kindergarten to Grade 5: my dream job, my dream climate, my dream of dreams in every way.

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Thanksgiving Photo

2014 Gratitude List

October 14, 2014 / / 1 Comment

You may have noticed a funny little game going around on Facebook, whereby people nominate each other to share a few things for which they are thankful.  The challenge is to “post three things you’re grateful for each day for seven days.”

I say, PSHAW.  That’s no challenge at all.  I’ve done that, week after week, year after year, since 2007, without repeating anything.*

It gets a little tricky to do that for seven years running, so I’ll modify the challenge for all of you novices out there:  Can you muster up 365 consecutive days of gratitude, and post your list next Thanksgiving?

I did! So here, without further ado, is my (minimally censored) 2014 Gratitude List:

The sun came out and warmed me up

I got an extra hour outside

I made the soup yesterday

Gloria is okay

I made it to the end of this emotionally unsavoury day

And tomorrow will be different

My back yard at night, with stars and wisps of clouds. It gives me cause for deep breaths and solace.

Children who stay home to vomit… Continue reading

Two Questions

August 22, 2014 / / 0 Comments

I asked my dad two questions today, as I stood beside his grave.

I, who walk upon this earth that covers him, have before me an uncertain future (as do we all). I have decisions to make that will steer me upon this earth in any number of unspecified directions, in circles or meandering lines, with a maddeningly undetermined end point.

“What would you say, Dad, if you were still alive? What should I do? How should I choose? What would matter to you?”

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