If work last week was difficult, this week it is impossible.  Since mid February there have been three women in our department whose husbands have died unexpectedly overnight.  This past Sunday it was the husband of someone in my region.  The resultant pain and grief among our small group is overwhelming and we all feel so helpless.  Each of us wants to help her.  None of us can.  The work must still get done, and the volume of emails and phone calls has intensified as people hear and want to know what happened.  And, of course, how to help.    Today is only the third day of this never ending week.  We were exhausted before.  Now we are plodding, a painful slow hobble; we’re just getting through each day.  Our exhaustion and pain is all consuming but nothing like what she is living through right now.

So it surprised me a bit tonight to find I could still smile and sing, even tap my fingers on the steering wheel.  The CD from our spring concert arrived last night and I listened to it on the way home this evening.  What a great concert; it was full of happy, fun, upbeat music.  Stuff you can sing (or at least hum) along with, sway with, nod your head with, snap your fingers to.  Good fun, great memories, heart singing music.

Here’s a sampling of what we played (found on youtube and played by other groups for your listening pleasure).  For Lassie and Benji’s mom I give you Lassus Trombone.  (She plays the trombone so I figured she’d get a kick out of this.)   And New York 1927 was really fun to play.  We featured the trumpets in Bugler’s Holiday …including one of our oldest members at over 70 featured as one of the soloists.    We even showcased the clarinets with Pie in the Sky Polka…a piece I spent way too much time practicing.

The whole evening was really fun, and the memories of that concert kept me smiling tonight on my long commute home after another very long and sad day at work.  For the concert we invited 10 or so 7th graders to play with us on a couple of the pieces.  The kids looked so young.  The young man sitting with us in the clarinets said as he took his chair that he was nervous.   We said that was OK, we were nervous too.  Afterward his grin, and the grins of most of the other kids went from ear to ear.  Amazing what music can do.

I wish it was this easy to lift my friend’s spirit.