Singing a Requiem Mass is not on my 60 By Sixty list. Maybe it should have been. As a church musician, I have sung many Requiems in my forty years as a chorister so this is not about singing “a” Requiem. It’s about singing a Requiem today, November 2, 2021. Tonight was the first time that our full church choir has sung together since March of 2020. For choristers who, under normal circumstances, would make music as an ensemble multiple times…
November 1, only 58 days until my 60th birthday. Here is how the last year of my sixth decade of life is shaping up. I began the year having created a list of 60 things that I wanted to accomplish by my sixtieth birthday. The long and short of it is that at this point I have checked many items off the list, but there are also a number that are likely not going to happen by the end of…
I often say that all I need to face the day is a good cup…or three….of coffee. This day made me edit that notion to say, “All I need to face MOST days is a good cup of coffee…or three.” The issue was not with the day itself; rather, it was the fact that I was on a liquid diet all day with nothing at all to drink after midnight until sometime the next day. If you are making…
Most of the things on my 60 By Sixty list are fun and exciting, but not all of them. As I was approaching my 59th birthday last December and finishing my list, I realized that in 2020 I had neglected routine healthcare. I had no physical and no mammogram. The only thing I did was my regular dental cleanings. Because I skipped out on these appointments last year, I added a complete physical, mammogram, and colonoscopy as numbers 55, 56,…
(2021 The 100 Day Project 3/100) Number 36 of 60 on “the list” is to participate in The 100 Day Project this year. This purpose of the project is simple: choose something that nourishes your creativity, do it every day for 100 days, and share your process online. What you do and how you do whatever it is that you choose to do is up to you. Beyond the intention to create something each day for 100 days, there are…
I grew up hearing adults say that you should never discuss politics or religion with your friends. As a kid, I didn’t think much about that because…well, even if I had discussed either of these two topics, the conversation would have been very short. As I matured, I realized that politics and/or religion shape most, if not all, of our adult worldview. Why would people not want to discuss these things that are seemingly so important? It seems that if…
It Is Time (An ode to Inauguration Day, January 20, 2021) On this date four years ago, I watched alongside others In the U.S. and around the world As the duly elected new president Was sworn into office With an oath in which he promised to “faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” Though I did not vote…
In the United States, today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a federal holiday created to celebrate and honor the life and work of Rev. Dr. King, a man who literally gave his life in the fight to end racial inequality in this country. Less significantly, for me this day has also always marked the real end to the Christmas holidays, as the spring semester begins on the Tuesday after MLK Day. Again, in no particular order, #45 on…
A year ago today, my friend Becca and I were in Miami getting ready to board a huge cruise ship for a weeklong vacation with no agenda except rest, relaxation, and spending time with each other in the Caribbean. Becca is an occupational therapist and had just worked through the Christmas holidays and I was about to go back to teaching the spring semester. This was the one week where our schedules worked so we booked ourselves a mental health…
I miss going to the grocery store. Not because I miss grocery shopping…I have become quite the fan of grocery delivery, but because I miss looking at all of the things that I don’t need and end up buyig anyway. One of my favorite grocery store impulse buys is magazines. Sometimes it is magazines full of pretty food photos and recipes that catch my attention. If I’m not feeling like adulting, it may be puzzle or coloring books. Sometimes, usually…