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.