Today in my primary music classes we talked about music as a force for peace. In broad, simplified strokes we talked about The Singing Revolution in Estonia and the Prayer of the Mothers associated with the Women Wage Peace movement in the Middle East. We talked about how war is sometimes a function of greed, where one country wants what another country has. And I saw before me a sea of confused and inquisitive faces, posing the most innocent, most poignant questions:
Continue readingTag: Choir (Page 1 of 2)
Here it is… another year of big and small happinesses, collected in a little book each evening and displayed on Thanksgiving Day in an act of public self-reflection. It is a testimony that life’s sweetest and most precious moments are to be savoured and preserved, and that even the most difficult days harbour cause for hope. Read on.
- Honesty
- It is a bedrock
- Baseball in the back yard
- Ten hits in a row
- And the most encouraging coach
- Sleepovers
- When kids say funny things
- Hallowe’en thrifting
- Naan wraps
- Anniversaries
- Back to the gym
- Meetings that aren’t disasters
- Perfect days
- Perfect evenings
- Band practice in the basement
- Progress on the siding
- A minor injury
- Short waits at ER
- Sleeping in his arms
- Success stories
- Summer weather in October
- Open windows
- When I get a ride home from band
- Those hamburgers are so good
- Rapini
- Normal blood sugar levels
- Pillow talk
- Work buddies
- When I don’t think I’ll make the light, but then I do
- Good therapists
- When little ones learn to listen
- When my purse doesn’t get stolen at the gym
- When students play their first melodies, and it’s magical
It was over 15 years ago that I came upon the idea of keeping a gratitude list, and since then I have maintained the habit of taking a few minutes each evening to reflect on the goodness of the day. Some days are naturally radiant, and sometimes it requires some serious excavating to find a glimmer of light. But without fail, I have always found something for which to be thankful.
Nine years ago I began the tradition of posting the year’s list to my blog each Thanksgiving. It’s a way for me to travel through the ups and downs of the year through a lens of positivity and good humour, and to share with others the little sparkles that have sustained me through that time. I’ll warn you — it’s a rather long read; but maybe it will inspire you to find the sparkles in your year as well. Happy Thanksgiving!
- Advice is just advice
- Triage
- When things are calm
- When conversations go well
- When I finish reading OSRs
- When I remember I have pretzels in the car
- When there is no longer a dead squirrel on my driveway
Three years ago I had a disastrous encounter with a maestro who shall not be named. It would not be a stretch to say that there were elements of trauma to that evening. Before you go any further, you should probably read the amusing, but heart-wrenching account of my first audition experience in Casablanca.
Now, three years later, I did the unthinkable thing, and repeated the experience. Same never-ending round-about. Same obscure church entrance. Same ghastly maestro. Same everything. But not the same me. Continue reading
I have been stressing out about French. Have you noticed? Likely not, because you think I’m still obsessing about the Royal Wedding. Forget that. I’m over it.
No, French is my ongoing obsession, more than ever now, as the stakes creep higher in equal proportion to my rising self-doubt.
What if I can’t do it? What if, no matter how much I study and how long I persist, I never pass beyond the blundering idiot phase of language learning? Oh, sure, I’m less of a blundering idiot than I was three years ago, when I couldn’t say, “I want to walk up the hill.” But the subjunctive has its own mode of blunder induction (did you catch that, French-speakers? Its own mode?). The more I learn, the more I blunder.
Now, these rising stakes of which I speak so melodramatically. What are they? Well, you know. Employment. That about sums it up. You see, I miss Canada. Continue reading
I would be remiss if I did not share the official report:
If you made it to the end of my last post, you may have noticed that I alluded to “another story.” This is it.
I am trapped in a prison compound in the depths of China. Today I plot my escape. Continue reading
I went to China last week, after 43 years of waiting. Here are some impressions: Continue reading
Last week I tapped on my neighbour’s door to ask for a bit of flour. Because that’s what you do when you neither cook nor bake, but you find yourself craving cheese sauce, and that sauce needs thickening, and you know your neighbour has flour, because she gave you some the one and only other time you felt a need to cheese things up.
It’s pleasant, having neighbours from whom you can acquire flour twice a year, in exchange for several kilos of peanut and almond butter. It’s pleasant, walking in and being welcome in someone else’s home. It’s pleasant, chatting about how we’re really feeling about this juncture in our lives. Continue reading
I am thankful for the big things: the people who make my world beautiful every day, both here in Morocco and in my other happy home in Canada; for the many places in between that I’ve been able to visit this year (twelve airports, if I’ve counted correctly!); for the rich cultures and histories that intersect my days; for meaningful work; and for the provisions that allow me to keep on living this colourful, promising life.
But every Thanksgiving, I take a few hours to collect all the smaller thanksgivings I’ve recorded throughout the year as well – those things that, at the end of each day, remind me that there is always, always a little goodness to be found, or to create, with a small turn of the mind.
Here, then, is my 2016 Gratitude List, beginning with last year’s Thanksgiving trip to an all-inclusive resort in Southern Morocco, and ending with yesterday’s roast chicken at home. I invite you to walk through my year of thankfulness with me: Continue reading