All my blog posts are based on a true story, so it’s true that I love starting today’s blog post with a true image from my true friend Barbara’s truly lovely home.
Yesterday, Barbara
went with me to see guitarist Pat Metheny for Barbara’s first time,
had the best fish dish of her entire life,
took selfies of herself and her friend of sixty-three years (me),
swapped amazing stories with her friend,
admired the gorgeous concert venue in Rockport Massachusetts,
We have proof that these stories are true, because of all these true photographs:
Barbara and I both agreed that we truly enjoyed Pat last night especially when he involved more instruments than just one solo guitar. I told her the true story of his development of his own incredible Orchestrion, of which he had a small sample on stage with him last night. I also told her the true story of how I saw Pat play at the Orpheum theater in Boston a decade ago when his Orchestrion album came out, and how truly amazing that was. She wished she could have seen more of that, so this is truly for you, Barbara:
I’m looking forward to all your true stories, below.
My gratitude is always based on true stories, so thanks to Barbara, to true friendship, to Pat Metheny, to all who helped me create today’s true post and — truly! — to YOU.
Whenever I read my past blog posts, it’s like traveling in a time machine. For example, when I was reading all those posts about Megan, I definitely traveled through time …. all the way back to 2013, my first year of blogging, and beyond!
This week, I’ve spent some time traveling in the time machine of memory to my May vacation week of exactly one year ago, during which somebody made me lunch and then travelled in a time machine to recount years of resentments. Personally, when I travel in my time machine, I prefer to visit moments of love, not times of resentment (even though my time machine goes everywhere, to moments of pleasure and pain).
My time with Megan and her daughter, yesterday, was truly a reparative experience, which I hope you can see, as you take the time to travel through my latest photos:
Throughout time, I’ve been sending photos of pugs to my friend Jenn, because she loves them. Yesterday, I sent Jenn that photo of Megan’s neighbor’s dog, Ruby.
If you had a time machine, where would you go? One place I would (and do) revisit is the first time I heard Pat Metheny play, at the Paradise Theater in Boston in 1979. On that day, I heard and saw Pat and his group play music from the album American Garage and I was never the same again. Here and now, I’m traveling in my personal time machine to the FUTURE — next week, when I’ll be seeing Pat live, again, playing solo guitar.
Here’s a comment about that video of the Pat Metheny Group circa 1979, in which nctomatoman is time traveling:
nctomatoman
1 year ago
My first Pat Metheny concert was in 1980 at the chapel on the UVermont campus in Burlington. He played this, Unity Village, Phase Dance, San Lorenzo – and an early version of As Fall Witchita, among other songs. Breathtaking – changed my musical life for good and I’ve seen Pat nearly 20 times in concert – Waltham, Philadelphia, Seattle, Raleigh….The Way Up, to me, is the peak of his art. I so hope that the PMG reunites, though the Unity Group is wonderful as well.
The last line of that comment and the word “wonderful” takes me back to yesterday, when I took this photo …
…. assuming, at the time, that the title for today’s blog post would be “Wonderful.”
So, my wonderful readers, where would you go in a time machine?
Now I’m going to travel through time to recall years of gratitude, here at the Year(s) of Living Non-Judgmentally, for all those who help me create these daily posts and — of course! — for YOU.
Yesterday, my life-long friend Barbara and I met for lunch and we gave each other gifts. Those gifts included lunch, sunglasses, great conversation, praise, appreciation, support, validation, honesty, hugs, and acknowledgements of the importance of our friendship.
I now offer you the gifts of the photos from yesterday:
What’s the best gift you’ve ever gotten? What’s the best gift you’ve ever given?
I’m also going to offer my readers the gift of a guessing game. The photos, above, show my Mother’s Day gift from a family member. You can give me the gift of your guesses in the comments section, below.
I end each post with the gift of gratitude. Many thanks to all who helped me create today’s blog and — of course! — to you, my readers (who are always a gift to me).
Who gives a crap about where today’s blog title came from?
If you do give a crap, I saw that sign yesterday on the wall of a huge glass-blowing facility called Almost Perfect Glass in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
There’s my almost perfect friend, Deb, who was working the annual holiday glass sale at Almost Perfect Glass, which is the home of NOCA Glass School (where Deb has taken many courses, because she gives a crap about glass blowing). Deb and I give a crap about each other and have since we were in our teens. People say we look and act like sisters, and not just because we both wear the same t-shirt (which I gave her years ago because she gave a crap about what it says).
Who gives a crap about any of my other photos from yesterday?
I give a crap about talent, nature, mindfulness, and all that’s in your head.
While we all give a crap about what’s important to us, it also helps to let go of worry, shame, and other crap filling your brain by saying, “Who gives a crap!”
I don’t know about you, but I’m good and tired of trying to understand how bad people think. How about understanding how good people think?
My good friend and good person Jeanette thinks this way: She wanted to celebrate — with other good people — turning 55 in November (even though her birthday is in April). Other good people thought that was a great idea. Here are some photos from that good celebration, yesterday:
Good people like Jeanette think of dressing their good dog in a Princess outfit and calling it a “pink wave.”
Good people like Jeanette think a black unicorn would be wonderful and good people like our good friend Carol create one, just for Jeanette.
Good people like our good friend Janet like to pose like this and good people like me post this photo with this caption: “You can pick your friends and you can pick your nose, but you can’t pick your friend’s nose.”
Also, I think I there’s some good Vitamin K stuck in my teeth there.
Yesterday, I spoke with people about how many losses and deaths we had experienced in the month of March. It seemed like madness when we listed the beloved relatives and friends who had passed away during this one month.
Is it madness that I had this conversation with my dear friend, Megan?
Me: My father died in March, but I can’t believe how many people you’ve lost in March.
Megan: It’s crazy!
Me: It’s traumatizing! I’ll tell you what. In the future, if it looks like I’m going to die in the month of March, I’ll make sure they keep me on life support until I make it to April.
Megan (laughing): Thank you!
Me: Then maybe I’ll die on April 1st. I think that’s a good day to die.
Is it madness to talk about our own deaths and to laugh about loss? For me, it helps dispel the madness.
I have undying love for the people who made my 65th birthday so wonderful, including
Megan. I love Megan. Yesterday, Megan and I expressed an undying wish that, before we die, we let go of worry, anxiety, overthinking, harsh self-judgments, and fears about the future. I know that love never dies, but I hope that painful and unhelpful thoughts will die (or at least become less strong).
Photos on the internet never die, so here are more photos from yesterday:
My love never dies for chocolate, my boyfriend Michael (who bought me that yummy dessert), my son Aaron, my family, my friends, my work, and my blogging community.
“Fun to Know and Easy to Love” (because people in my life are fun to know and easy to love), or
“1 in a Million” (because we’re all one in a million).
What do YOU think the name of this post should be?
That’s the Halloween costume my son, whose name is Aaron, wore many years ago. Carrying a spray bottle, Aaron asked people to name what he was, spritzed them with water and said, “I’m partly cloudy with a chance of showers.”
I’m thinking that the title of this post should be “1 in a Million” because, on a 1 in a million chance, I reconnected with an old friend yesterday, who is a 1-in-a-million musician and a 1-in-a-million friend, David Smith, whom I first met at the Berklee summer program in 1969.
Here‘s my old friend Dave conducting the Clarksville Middle School Wind Ensemble:
Actually, perhaps the name of this post should be “Reverberations.”
No matter what your name is, what do you think the name of this post should be?
As always, the name of today’s post could be “Thanks,” because that’s what I’m feeling, here and now.
Yesterday, I got together with my old friend Hillel. When Hillel and I looked quite a bit different, we attended our high school junior year prom together.
Hillel and I have dealt with some major medical issues recently, so when we got our first looks at each other yesterday, we both said:
We argued a bit about who looked better, but soon we decided to look at new and familiar places on the North Shore of Massachusetts.
Now, you can look at those places, too.
As I look at some of those photos now, the horizon looks tilted, but it didn’t look that way yesterday.
I let my friends on Facebook get a look at me and Hillel yesterday and several of them wrote that we both looked great. I also showed Hillel my current Facebook profile photo (from our Junior High School yearbook) …
… and Hillel said, “I knew you then and you never looked like that.” Apparently, I looked like that just long enough for somebody to take a picture of it.
Later, I drove Hillel to my home so that my boyfriend Michael and Hillel could get a look at each other. We also looked for our prom photo, but couldn’t find it. Then, when I was driving Hillel back to his hotel, I got a flat tire. Hillel, who always looks like a gentleman, waited with me until roadside service arrived and then looked up the nearest Uber driver to get a ride.
Later in the evening, Michael and I got a look at all these things:
