In two weeks, I will climb up into a charter bus, take my assigned seat, and ride 22 hours straight to Orlando, Florida. I will be a chaperon with the high school marching band, which will perform at Disney's Magic Kingdom--me and 180 people on four big buses for seven days. We will travel together, eat together, play together, fall down exhausted together--and after 22 hours, I suspect stink to high heaven together. Because of the crazy schedule, we will leave Ohio at 6 pm, travel all night and most of the next day, and spend several hours at MGM Studios before ending up at the hotel sometime after 7 pm. After I check in with the eight girls I am to supervise, I intend to shower and shower and shower. I intend to wear clean clothes and socks and brush my teeth until my toothbrush wears out. Of all the things I could be concerned about on this trip, being dirty seems to weigh heaviest on my mind. One of my eight charges could run off and do bad things with her boyfriend, but I'...
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That's the second time I've cried in two days. I know I'm getting older but that's one side effect I hadn't expected.
And both times (Nimrod, yesterday) were connected to you and your horn.
You say you cannot vouch for the quality of the writing; well it is wonderful. Not just the raw truth of it, but the way you totally involve the reader in the minutiæ of your everyday life, complete with laughs, and then that awful news hits us almost as shockingly as it must have hit you …
If you play the horn a hundredth as well as you write, you must be a virtuosuo.
I was sad enough about your family life, but then to lose your only real friend.
You write beautifully. That was a long time ago, but I'm really sorry.
Diver, I believe I've heard the Nimrod thing before--I wish I could have heard it live.
I am hardly a virtuoso--in fact, when I left the arts building after my lesson this afternoon, I practially cried, trudging down the sidewalk in a crumpled up heap of insecurity and self-doubt. There's always another chance to not suck, I keep telling myself.
And no self-doubts; every note you play is the best note you have ever played.
And get online and get hold of a copy of Elgar's Enigma Variations. Nimrod is heartbreakingly beautiful (and great for horns).