Feeding my soul

Above – Sarah Jarosz

The background…

Music has always played a significant role in of my life. I started playing the guitar when I was fourteen, thanks in part to a neighborhood friend. None of us set out with the intention of “making” it. We simply loved the joy of getting together to sing and play the songs we knew and loved. I call it campfire music – the idea of playing for ourselves or for others who loved to sing along too. Later in life I joined a few bands, played my guitar and loved filling in the harmonies.

Then one day, our bass player quit, seven weeks before a scheduled gig. What to do? Long story short, Ray said to me, “why don’t you give it a try”, or words to that effect. To be honest, I always loved the bass, so I gave it a shot, and it was unadulterated love. I learned my parts (hell I already knew the music) and it went along seamlessly. I was hooked. Later that year, my husband surprised me with my very own bass and amp, for Christmas.

However, the story this particular morning isn’t about me as a musician, but how music in any key, forces me to take time to smell the roses. Last March (after my five-day stint in cardiac ICU), was my wake up call. My DNA along with my type “A” personality almost drove me to the brink. I had to re-focus — compel myself to leave the highway and take a leisurely path down a one-lane dirt road. Trust me it’s not easy. Habits never form overnight; so diligently through yoga and tai chi, tending my gardens, forcing myself to crawl instead of run, i.e. making time for MOI, I am deliberately reincarnating myself. Instead of rushing to the computer each morning, I put on my headphones, losing myself in music that removes me away from the hustle and bustle of the world.

So thank you, Sarah Jarosz, The Wailin’ Jennys, Radiohead, Alison Krause, Everything But the Girl, Gin Blossoms, John Mayer, Kasey Chambers, Lisa Loeb, Nickel Creek, R.E.M., Mary Chapin Carpenter, Jonatha Brooke, Collective Soul, and the thousands of musicians who successfully assist me in lowering my systolic and diastolic numbers… you continue to feed my soul.