Originally posted on Facebook HERE
I know these posts are called the Looking Out My Back Window series, but today I broke the rules. I was outside early today and this photo is from the front yard. I just really liked it a lot, so I thought – who made the rule it has to be from my back window?… well… I did. It was me. And in general, I am not a person who breaks rules easily. At all. The idea of breaking a rule makes me nervous. But sometimes… you just have to. In going outside your box, or doing something you normally wouldn’t say yes to – you can grow. Or at least have an interesting life experience. This past week has been a series of unusual activity for me. A whole lot of music. Two practices, three shows (one is today), and two twelve hour days in a recording studio working on the next album with my band The Fusion Project. One of the practices and both of the recording dates went until 1:30am. Well… I can’t remember the last time I stayed up that late, much less three times in a week. These days my internal clock usually gets me up at 4am. I slept in those days until 6:30 or so, but – reminded me a little of the lifestyle of a working musician. Lotta late nights. And the band I’m playing with is a country band. I’ve never been known as a country bass player. Because I’ve never really played or listened to much country music. The amount of time it took to learn 60+ songs for those shows was tremendous. And I still get them jumbled up a bit. But I like challenges, and this certainly was one. And I’ve found that I like a lot of the material I’m learning, too. Songs I probably would have never heard or paid attention to without saying yes to these shows. People I might never have met without saying yes to these shows. And moments I never would have had… once in a while you get these special moments, right? I hope you do anyway – where your emotions just overwhelm you. When we were playing the show Wednesday night we dealt with problems with the gear, and rain, and people still stayed to watch the show. Once we were back up and running we were playing “Neon Moon” and three couples got up to dance. It was a beautiful night. We were overlooking a grassy area with a river behind. The couples were all “older”. In their 70s, maybe even 80s. I watched one guy have trouble getting out of his chair to go dance with his wife. And in that moment I was completely enveloped with the power of how special it was to bring joy to the lives of these people. The beauty of it all. I envisioned the long term relationships, and lives of the people who were dancing. The love. It was an incredible moment that only I will ever know. And I never would have had it unless I said yes to going outside my box. So, break a rule today. Do something uncharacteristic. Make your friends and family wonder just what the heck is going on. Maybe come see a country band this afternoon and dance to Neon Moon. So many options in every moment when we stay open to them all… 
