Maestro, If You Please! (Or We're Back from Hiatus)

It's been a long time. Time has been going fast for us these days. Maybe that's why it sometimes feels like we have been sick forever! (Although we are all feeling a bit better. For now.) I am amazed at how time speeds up as we age. My dad always says that and only recently have I felt that to be true for me. I think having a child makes time fly by and also makes me more conscious of how quickly the time goes. I used to wonder how people could be good friends with people that they only see once a year or only correspond with via email and the occasional phone call. Now I realize that I can't remember the last time I saw (or talked to) some of my best friends. I find myself remembering some event that happened and realizing that, although it feels like that event was a few months ago, it really happened a couple of years ago. These things, in turn, have led me to want to be more conscientiousness of my choices, how I spend my time, and my goals and priorities. I never really understood the phrase "live with intention," but (without being too "new age-y") I think that is precisely what I am working on. We'll see how that goes.

Since my last post, there have been a few major holidays. We spent Thanksgiving in town this year with the extended family of some dear friends of ours who always invite us to be part of their family when we are unable to travel to be with our own. We traveled to Madison for several days at Christmas and enjoyed spending time with Grandpa Roy, Auntie Anne, Uncle Grant, and Cousin Andy, as well as some extended family. (I will try and post some pictures from Christmas before, oh, Memorial Day?)

Our big Christmas present here was a "new to us" piano. This is part of my effort to "live with intention." Recently, listening to others talk about running, knitting, scrapbooking, or other various hobbies, I thought, hmm, I don't really have hobbies, other than work, Jack, Nick, taking care of the house, etc. And then I thought, wait, those aren't hobbies. It took me a while to remember that I DO have hobbies, but I have just gotten out of practice with them. One of those hobbies is music and, specifically, playing the piano.

Nick took our conversations about how my love of the piano is so important to me to heart, scoured the ads on Craig's List, and was able to find us a very good piano for a good price. We were able to arrange to move it for slightly less than we payed for it (only a slight exaggeration) and the piano is now in our home. While it still needs to be tuned, Jack and I have enjoyed noodling around on the keys a bit. Over Christmas, I gathered my old sheet music up from my dad's, and I am excited to get back into some of my old favorites, like George Winston's "Thanksgiving," Bach's Inventions, and maybe even "November Rain." (Wow, I had a wide variety of musical taste and little sense of what songs may not translate fully to piano.)


In other Henderlembcke music news, we signed Jack up for a Saturday Music Together class and we have all been enjoying it. Jack loves dancing around to the music CD that we received as part of the class package and sometimes he even does the "right" actions for the song. I love to have an opportunity to sing once a week, even if it is with a bunch of under 5 year olds and their parents. Jack's daycare provider has commented on how much he loves music and how he has the sweetest little "singing voice." While he doesn't sing words, he does love to hum or la-la-la a little tune. The class is another piece of being intentional about spending some time having fun together as a family on the weekend. Maybe we have the next Beethoven or Axel Rose on our hands?

Who says you need lessons to play this thing? Please.

What do you mean, "Careful, if that closes on your hands it could cut off your fingers?" You mean these fingers? Mine?