Saturday, December 15, 2012

A RESPITE

Went to see my grandson play drums in the band he's in first gig. A keyboardist, bass player, guitar player and trumpet player all around fourteen grooved so tightly the adults were on the floor almost instantly moving and gyrating and doing our versions of dancing that the teenagers present found pretty funny.

It was the perfect antidote to the sadness and even despair so many have been feeling in light of the recent horror (Connecticut is just fifteen minutes away from where my grandson's band was playing). Watching and listening to and dancing to these teenagers make music while their little brothers and sisters also danced and ran around and their parents and uncles and aunts and friends and one grandparent boogied to their music (or reggaed when they changed the beat and my grandson kicked it) made all of us I think feel better.

My daughter Caitlin put it best in a comment on a Facebook post:
"And may I say music heals/saves/revives/invigorates/opens our hearts and minds. I know because I just came from seeing a young band called Highland play and it did all of that and more. Me nephew was the drummer but they all rocked and snapped me back into myself and the world that I know holds more good than bad, if only there was a good news station."

To which I agreed. Like I read on another comment somewhere, the media should refuse to name those who commit these kinds of atrocities and focus on those who are helping the families get through it and who tried to protect the children, like the teachers who lost their lives and who gave themselves every day to the welfare of these young people. They should be the focus of news stories.

6 comments:

tom said...

Good that your grandson and his friends are able to perform and do it well. I work at an alternative school and have several students who bring their guitars to the classroom and strum quietly while they study. On some Fridays one of our teachers will sit with them in the afternoon and jam. Your daughter put it best.

Lally said...

What a great school that sounds like Tom. Wish my youngest son was going there.

tom said...

We are an alternative high school. I wish more "traditional schools" were like ours.

JenW said...

The young musicians sound like an awesome group. If they are ever looking for a cool female singer my 14 year old niece Claudia rocks. Her older band mates have ventured off to college and beyond so she is a solo artist at the present. Music is a wonderful gift- everything your daughter expressed. Jen, (First Grade Teacher who knows the smiles of 6 & 7 year olds each and every day and is so grateful to experience the joy, enthusiasm and pure love they shine upon this world, giving us hope for tomorrow.)

Anonymous said...

You have a lovely family...

Suzanne

Lally said...

Thanks Jen.And Suzanne, coming from someone with such a lovely family yourself, I feel lucky. But despite their troubles and mine, it is true and I am very grateful for it.