Thirteen

I'm not feeling particularly inspired this week, or inspired at all, actually, but these lists of 13 don't usually require too much inspiration, and so I shall attempt to tell you 13 things about my life, as it is, at this moment.

1. Jed is sleeping. However, at some point soon the mailman will come by. Jed whimpers and wags and watches the mailman from every possible vantage point. He tried to stand on the radiator for a better view yesterday. He doesn't bother checking out replacement mailmen, he just loves our regular one. I think it's because if we meet the mailman in the neighbourhood while we are walking, Jed gets a treat. Since I've gotten to know the mailman through Jed, I am especially careful to keep our front walk clear of snow and ice in the winter. We don't want our special mailman to fall!

2. Micah's birds love to chirp and eat in the morning. They also play with their toys. I can hear them doing their bird thing.

3. Joey bought adult crickets for his lizards. They are singing, as well. The strangest thing was that one of the crickets almost sounded like a bird... it twittered more than whatever it is crickets usually do. I think it got eaten because I don't hear it anymore.

4. Micah is going to the symphony today. Unfortunately, no parent volunteers were required. I LOVE going to the symphony with Micah. He has a quality of hearing that I marvel at and I'm always happy when he points something out to me that I would have missed.

We once went to a performance that featured a somewhat radical classical violinist (yes, you can laugh now). Instead of all the pomp that usually accompanies the guest musician, he strolled out playing a little fiddle tune.

Micah leaned in and said, "I'm sure this is by the guy who wrote my Minuet." I nodded but thought he was dead wrong... the Minuet was by Bach and this was a fiddle tune. Sure enough, later in the evening, the musician talked about how all music is inter-related, no matter what the style (yes that is a radical idea for the stuffy pure classical folks) and he played the "fiddle" tune as it was actually written, by Bach. So now when Micah tells me something, I just believe him because he's been right much more often than I have ever been.

5. Hockey playoffs are on. This means Joey (aided and abetted by Rob) will be watching way more TV than usual. Micah and I will be mildly bored and seek out other entertainment. Joey will notice mistakes in the paper's hockey listings the way Micah notices fonts and music.

6. I got Jed a cheap rawhide bone yesterday. He usually loves rawhide bones. I think he's discriminating when it comes to bones; he hasn't touched this one. He must know it's the cheap kind.

7. Rob doesn't like listening to the radio when he gets up. I do. My clock radio went to Micah, so I am going to need to get another one so I can control my own listening in the morning.

8. I talked to someone from the Avian Rescue Society yesterday. My phone always lets me know how long my conversation was, and so I know that I talked to this person for 23 minutes. I don't know her at all: How in the world could we have talked about birds for 23 minutes?

She told me about the Winnipeg Parrot Society (for Micah and his cockatiels) and I realized that whether you love birds or reptiles, you're kind of cut from the same cloth. People who are willing to have 20 birds or 20 reptiles in their house all seem sort of the same.

This makes me very worried. If my house is full of birds and reptiles, and I end up attending meetings from both the reptile and the parrot society, will I still be normal? Am I on some kind of slippery slope?

9. I have not yet emptied the dishwasher this morning. That is a task I will need to do before I leave for the day.

10. My pile of laundry is shrinking. I think it's because most of Joey's clothes are strewn all over the floor in his bedroom, so I expect this shrinking thing is short lived. The other day as I waded through his room to say goodnight, he looked at the floor and said something like, "I'm working on my rebellion." And I thought, "Honey, if this is it, all the power to you." I can live with a huge collection of reptile magazines and clothes all over the place. How 'bout starting a rock band featuring your banjo?

11. I'm still working on my de-caffienated life. I can't seem to cut ties with that last bit of caffiene.

12. It's going to be a beautiful warm day. I am so thankful the weather has finally turned.

13. About my flute: after I realized my teacher won't get mad at me when I make a mistake (I feel like this is tapping into my 'child' more than anything else I do at the moment--it's kind of embarrassing but oh well) I realized that I have always played fearful of the next mistake I could make... so I've been playing and trying to avoid mistakes rather than playing and just enjoying the experience. And I can avoid mistakes quite well, so I don't want you to think I suck or anything, but it's not the way I want to keep playing.

There's this band I like and the reason I like them as much as I do is because I honestly think they are the most abandoned musicians (and you might be laughing at the image of abandoned musicians but I'm going to soldier on here) I've ever seen live. They play with more abandonment than anyone else I know. I think it's what makes them great. They aren't thinking about mistakes, they're simply in the moment and they're projecting all their energy and passion and life through their instruments. It's incredible. My teacher is the same way: whatever he's playing, he's completely abandoned to the moment and to the music.

That's the way I want to play. That's the way I want to live.