The Impossible Dream

It was perhaps our family's darkest hour during the late summer & early fall of 2001. I don't have to remind any American what was happening on the national & global scene during that time. Our family was no stranger to crisis either. My wife was fighting for our oldest son's life as well as her own in a small hospital room on the south side of Kansas City, Missouri. There she would be bed ridden for the better half of four months & it wouldn't be until Thanksgiving, before our son would finally come home from the hospital for the first time. It was in that small room where life & death hung in the balance that my wife's vision for becoming a physician was born. That was almost eight years ago.

Fast forward.

This weekend Natalie sang for a crowd of six thousand during UTMB graduation exercises for the class of 2009. How things change. While our journey & purpose is never fully complete this side of eternity, this is an enormous milestone to finally arrive just under a year from graduation. Her vision is now within reach.

Lean years these have been. It's easy to forget that dreams come with a hefty price tag if you're not the one in the hot seat. Nevertheless, here we are at opportunity's gate. what a dream. What a journey. What a woman.

Just Grapes & Sunshine

I belong to a raisin eating family. This is largely because my youngest is a finely tuned raisin eating machine. So I purpose to have them on hand for his dining pleasure since they're decidedly better for you than gallons of high fructose corn syrup. The only downside is I often find remnants of his raisins carelessly scattered throughout the house. Or worse, stomped deep into the threads of our carpet, which is largely why we rent...okay partially why we rent ;-)

The other day I happened to notice the little phrase on the box which boasted its ingredients to be "Just Grapes & Sunshine." I recall thinking it seemed too good to be true because they taste so sweet. There must surely be high fructose corn syrup embedded in there somewhere. Upon further investigation I was relieved to find the label of contents missing the ghastly syrup of death.

Nice.

Much like good food & good cooking, sometimes simple is best. I continue to be amazed however as to how anyone could bite into one of these tiny fruit snacks & believe its existence to be mere happenstance. Simple ingredients aside, it possesses highly complex design, obvious purpose, & months of cultivation to reach maturity. None of which just happened or happens by accident.

Reminds me of the late famed astronomer & astrochemist Carl Sagan who once acknowledged "In order to create an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe." Key word being..."create."

Making Music in a Cluttered Room

Up late. Nothing new there. Taking a break from arranging some of my music while the family sleeps.

Someone once told me your success may very well be determined by what you are willing to lose. In my case it's a neat & tidy abode. There are worse things in life. As much as I would love to reside in a rustic white two story Martha Stewart New England style home (with forest green trim..has to have forest green trim around it) that's nestled perfectly into the backdrop of something out of a Jim Wilson film with a lush circle drive & freshly landscaped lawn, there simply aren't enough hours in the day to accomplish the goals I've set before me & maintain that property tax of a nightmare.

So alas, here I sit in my cluttered room creating my masterpieces into the wee small hours of the morning. I suppose one man's cluttered room is another man's recording studio. We should all be so lucky. :-)

Time Passing

At this very hour my youngest is turning two. I can think of no greater reminder of how quickly time passes than to have children & watch them grow up one hour at a time. It is the greatest & most sobering responsibility I will ever encounter. May wisdom be his father's faithful company. Here's to many more years to come. Happy Birthday Kael.

Birds of a Feather

While I fully realize Bill O'reilly is a polarizing journalist to many, even the far left would be hard pressed not to acknowledge the Factor's "Miller Time" segment is hands down the whitiest political banter anywhere on television today. Miller's monologues are nothing short of genius... a political Robin Williams sporting a scruffy beard. I find myself mesmerized by the blistering array of analogies & references. I confess though, many fly right over me. That's okay. I'll take my six minutes of perplexing brilliant dialogue any day over most public speakers who refuse to quit when they're done. Less is more. Say it with me..."Less is more!" Better still..."keep it pithy." :0D

To Boldly Go...

Last night I found myself nestled in a theatre well into the wee hours of the morning relishing the new Star Trek film (btw I give it a resounding two thumbs up).

It never ceases to amaze me how many thousands of people it takes to produce any given Hollywood film. It also never ceases to amaze me how everyone loves to shout kudos to household name producers or actors but overlook the third chair trombonist in the symphony who was recorded at just the right moment to enhance your favorite scene. Or what about the graphic artist whose parents said she was throwing her life away majoring in art instead of law who created a phenomenal story board that took Spielberg's ideas to an entirely new level? Or what about the set designer who made a Vulcan planetary surface more than believable? And let's not forget the sound engineer that remastered the final mix of the movie soundtrack to give it that extra sizzle.

We've all heard "It takes all kinds of people to make a world" but rarely do we sincerely acknowledge it. Usually the measuring stick by which most define success is "Will it pay the bills?" Interestingly enough, these are the same folks who don't think twice about laying down several Benjamins when Cher or McCartney's farewell tour rolls into town. They also love to build their dvd/cd libraries & ipod play lists by leaps & bounds. Last time I checked it wasn't tax attorneys, CEO's or plastic surgeons writing those musical scores or producing those fresh ideas out of thin air.

I'm not advocating avoiding responsibilities, but we need creative dreamers, unconventional thinkers & risk takers. I'm glad Beethoven, Bill Gates & Hank Williams Sr. didn't listen to the cynical masses. Had they fallen prey our world would be the worse for it.

Old Man Summer

Those who know me best know I much prefer cloudy, cold, dreary, wet, drizzly, autumn leaves sticking to your windshield, with heavy snow in the forecast kind of days to summer. It's not that I hate summer, it's just that where I live I can sit in an air conditioned house with a ceiling fan on high with all the lights off & the drapes drawn & still sweat bucket loads. Today however, was a gift from above. Highs were in the 70's. Though the underlying gift was the non existent humidity. Stranger than fiction. It's as if The Almighty threw me one last celestial bone before we are to be lambasted with four months of "lows in the 90's" with 99% humidity. In honor of this most rarest of days I chose to cut my grass. I have found I can get all manner of manual labor done with zero humidity. Next month I shall be torching my yard with the devine smell of highly flamable petrolium via my local shell station. Don't knock it till you've tried it. Yellow grass has gotten a bad rap over the years. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder & in my eyes a scorched yard is like the rarest delicate crocus that blooms but once in a lifetime. ;0>

Sad Birds Don't Sing

Today's entry finds me dealing with my old familiar nemesis... "the cholies" (as I've heard my friend Randy's wife describe it). My assessment of my current situation is simply too many of life's painful circumstances stockpiling in my mind without the slightest intention of paying rent for it's extended layover. While an honest assessment/confrontation is vital for one's emotional well being, like the middle of the road, I highly don't recommend hanging out there for too long. If you do, you'll inevitably get mowed down like an armadillo on a west Texas two lane highway just after the bars close. If only during these times of heavy precipitation I could calmly & quietly remind myself there is a natural order & rhythm to our lives. Like the tide that moves in & goes back out to sea, for better & worse, our lives, circumstances & surroundings are always and forever changing. Roll with it baby.

Tooth or Consequences

Tonight I assisted my wife, an almost 4th year medical student, while she operated on my middle child's molar in our back bedroom. It was a frightening ordeal for two of us in the room... (as there were shiny cold metal scissors involved which inevitably meant there would be cutting at some point)...while my wife handled it like a pro. I wish I were more skilled at confronting life's little sinking sliders it throws across my plate. The procedure was compounded by the fact his school day had not gone well at all for him either. Tough day. Tough night. Nevertheless, gums heal & a batter's swing & stance is forever & always a work in progress.

Kael's Georg Friedrich

It took the actions of my 23 month old son in the back seat of our Durango this late spring afternoon to prompt the birth of this blog. Imagine creating something in your lifetime that will affect generations to come. Imagine several hundred years from now someone in a country other than your own, quoting your words, walking into a building you designed, benefiting from a cure you discovered, or in this case fervently waving their head and conducting with their tiny hands meticulously to the beat of the music you composed some two hundred plus years removed, all the while knowing they possess little command of their own native tongue. That's when you know you've changed the world.