Beautiful list and I love word games and gratitude(s)! Here goes…
A - is for air, fresh air, the different changes in the air I stop to breathe and notice
B - is for beach because ocean or lake, my joy ain’t fake 😁
C - is for car because sometimes I just need to hit the road and see the sights and jam to the tunes
D - is for downtime that is all mine to do whatever I want or need or to just not do and be in quiet
E - is for elephants which I adore for a number of reasons… amazing creatures
F - is for friend and reminders they send
G - is for Gran’ma who was born and died this month and lived a wonderful life offering amazing lessons and support in between; ever influenced and ever grateful for her love 💗 and for grief which has softened me, reminded me of love, and taught me gratitude at its most heartfelt, deepest, most beautiful fullness
H - is for hearts ♥️, my favorite symbol and I see them everywhere
I - is for Ingram family because obvi… they’re the best! 💝💓💞🥰
You’ll have to forgive me for my long response, but I have really enjoyed this exercise in gratitude this morning, and look forward to finishing the alphabet:
A is for Andy, my best friend. We met on the day we moved into college. While I was still unpacking, my roommate Rebecca brought back two guys named Ethan and Andy whom she’d met during orientation. Andy plopped down on Rebecca’s bed like he owned the place, and promptly broke the picture frame she’d affixed an hour before. A couple of days later, during freshman convocation, our college president instructed us to take a selfie with the person sitting next to us, so that we could look back on it at graduation and see how our new friendships grew over the next four years. Andy and I took it one step further and recreated our photo at graduation. I’m so lucky that I did not have to search for my most trusted, beloved friend: he crashed—in all senses—into my room on day one.
(PS for Hal: Andy’s the reason I was in Kent last weekend! He was playing in the pit for Head Over Heels at Kent State.)
B is for bassoon. Nothing has opened so many doors in my life than the dorky instrument I started playing in the 6th grade. Playing a relatively uncommon instrument gave me plenty of opportunities in honors ensembles and summer camps, and it gave me a little bit of the positive attention I craved as a kid. Though I never wanted to pursue an orchestral performance career, studying bassoon at a performing arts high school and undergraduate conservatory was such a gift, and it propelled me to the arts administration work and musicology degrees I have now. I often worried that it was too much of my identity, and I didn’t know who I’d be without it. Luckily, those fears have been largely unfounded. Though chronic illness and my overall career path have minimized how much I play these days, that facet of my identity hasn’t diminished: instead, I’ve simply grown around it. I am a major bassoon geek, and I am also many other things.
C is for cross stitch. Though I’d always watched my grandmother cross stitching, I didn’t ever try it for myself until I was a senior in college. As someone for whom visual art has always been a struggle, cross stitch is the exact amount of prescribed that works for me. Creating something by hand, then often giving it away, has been such a soothing practice in the last four years. It also gives me something new to bond with my grandmother about, and I treasure that most of all.
D is for Dani, the first name of one of my college mentors and now colleagues. Like me, Dani was a first generation college student. Particularly at a conservatory of music, I was often reminded of the outstanding financial and familial support that many of my classmates had that I didn’t: after all, studying music at a private liberal arts school is an immense privilege. Dani proved that people with backgrounds like ours could be outstanding scholars and musicians, too, and that we often have a better gift of seeing through academia’s bullshit. Both as a student and now as her colleague, cat-sitting for her when she’s out of town is a particular joy in my life: Kitty Cat and Barbara are two of the biggest personalities of all time, and it’s an honor just to be in their house.
E is for exploration. With all the love in the world to the conformists of my hometown, I lack any capacity to blend in there. I don’t mean that in a self-congratulatory way, either: more like ill-fitting clothing or not being able to catch your breath. As an adult, I’ve been able to explore everything from gender to religion, new music to new places, and I’m grateful for the space to do so.
F is for Front Street. It’s the main road in my little suburb: I both live and work on Front Street, just at different ends. Since I moved to my current place in June, I’ve been very glad that I can just walk the 17 minutes to work, instead of the hour or more bus rides I used to take. Front Street encompasses parts of campus, “downtown,” and regular housing. The best onion rings you’ll ever eat are on Front Street at Boss Chick’n Beer: they’re thickly sliced and prepared by any one of their sassy, extroverted employees.
G is for the Great British Bake Off. I am too anxious for most television; regular life is stressful enough, so I don’t want more of it in entertainment. Despite ostensibly being a competition show, the formula of the Great British Bake Off hits just right for me, and I often have it on while I’m cross stitching. I’ve probably watched the 2014 competition at least 10 times. It has also been a bridge to bonding with several of my friends—one of my other college mentors turned colleagues, Jess, and I often text about each new episode.
H is for Harriet Ware, a 20th century composer. I learned about her mostly by chance: as a college junior, I was reading through the library’s special collection catalogue and found a sheet music to one of her songs, “A Day in Arcady.” I ended up writing my whole undergraduate thesis on her vast, yet mostly forgotten repertoire of art songs and solo piano works. Near the end of my thesis writing, I even got to visit her grave site on Long Island—quietly, by myself, on a grey February morning shortly before our wind ensemble performed at Carnegie Hall. I’m especially grateful for that visit, as it was such a humane blessing to say thank you to the person I’d been studying for so long.
I is for ice cream. I’ll talk more about living in Madison, Wisconsin later, but my old house there was one block away from two different outstanding ice cream parlors. How lucky was I? My grandparents have always had ice cream in their freezer, and the rituals we have around it are sacred. The silver ice cream scoop that is older than I am rarely goes a day without usage when any of us grandkids or great-grandkids are visiting.
Oh Hal, I didn’t realize that you were going to St. Paul, with a Uhaul no less! It would have been great to see you again. St. Paul is only 15-20 miles from where I live.
This was a wonderful list! I always slack on being intentional with the gratitude I have around my life and this is a perfect exercise to get me into that headspace more deeply! I’ll have to return or share my own when I can! I’m struggling to think of a list, I’ve gotta be honest!
Wonderful, as usual, Hal. I love that you find rest, warmth and rejuvenation in that float tank of yours…but grateful you never told me what you paid for it or all the details about installing it.
You know how thrifty Dad and I have always been and you can be assured that we would have advised you against buying it. (Just one more example of how important it is for parents to ‘trust’ their adult kids to do the right thing.🤗)
Beautiful list and I love word games and gratitude(s)! Here goes…
A - is for air, fresh air, the different changes in the air I stop to breathe and notice
B - is for beach because ocean or lake, my joy ain’t fake 😁
C - is for car because sometimes I just need to hit the road and see the sights and jam to the tunes
D - is for downtime that is all mine to do whatever I want or need or to just not do and be in quiet
E - is for elephants which I adore for a number of reasons… amazing creatures
F - is for friend and reminders they send
G - is for Gran’ma who was born and died this month and lived a wonderful life offering amazing lessons and support in between; ever influenced and ever grateful for her love 💗 and for grief which has softened me, reminded me of love, and taught me gratitude at its most heartfelt, deepest, most beautiful fullness
H - is for hearts ♥️, my favorite symbol and I see them everywhere
I - is for Ingram family because obvi… they’re the best! 💝💓💞🥰
I can see them on edit but not on the page so just in case, here are H-I:
H - is for hearts ♥️, my favorite symbol and I see them everywhere
I - is for Ingram family because obvi… they’re the best! 💝💓💞🥰
You’ll have to forgive me for my long response, but I have really enjoyed this exercise in gratitude this morning, and look forward to finishing the alphabet:
A is for Andy, my best friend. We met on the day we moved into college. While I was still unpacking, my roommate Rebecca brought back two guys named Ethan and Andy whom she’d met during orientation. Andy plopped down on Rebecca’s bed like he owned the place, and promptly broke the picture frame she’d affixed an hour before. A couple of days later, during freshman convocation, our college president instructed us to take a selfie with the person sitting next to us, so that we could look back on it at graduation and see how our new friendships grew over the next four years. Andy and I took it one step further and recreated our photo at graduation. I’m so lucky that I did not have to search for my most trusted, beloved friend: he crashed—in all senses—into my room on day one.
(PS for Hal: Andy’s the reason I was in Kent last weekend! He was playing in the pit for Head Over Heels at Kent State.)
B is for bassoon. Nothing has opened so many doors in my life than the dorky instrument I started playing in the 6th grade. Playing a relatively uncommon instrument gave me plenty of opportunities in honors ensembles and summer camps, and it gave me a little bit of the positive attention I craved as a kid. Though I never wanted to pursue an orchestral performance career, studying bassoon at a performing arts high school and undergraduate conservatory was such a gift, and it propelled me to the arts administration work and musicology degrees I have now. I often worried that it was too much of my identity, and I didn’t know who I’d be without it. Luckily, those fears have been largely unfounded. Though chronic illness and my overall career path have minimized how much I play these days, that facet of my identity hasn’t diminished: instead, I’ve simply grown around it. I am a major bassoon geek, and I am also many other things.
C is for cross stitch. Though I’d always watched my grandmother cross stitching, I didn’t ever try it for myself until I was a senior in college. As someone for whom visual art has always been a struggle, cross stitch is the exact amount of prescribed that works for me. Creating something by hand, then often giving it away, has been such a soothing practice in the last four years. It also gives me something new to bond with my grandmother about, and I treasure that most of all.
D is for Dani, the first name of one of my college mentors and now colleagues. Like me, Dani was a first generation college student. Particularly at a conservatory of music, I was often reminded of the outstanding financial and familial support that many of my classmates had that I didn’t: after all, studying music at a private liberal arts school is an immense privilege. Dani proved that people with backgrounds like ours could be outstanding scholars and musicians, too, and that we often have a better gift of seeing through academia’s bullshit. Both as a student and now as her colleague, cat-sitting for her when she’s out of town is a particular joy in my life: Kitty Cat and Barbara are two of the biggest personalities of all time, and it’s an honor just to be in their house.
E is for exploration. With all the love in the world to the conformists of my hometown, I lack any capacity to blend in there. I don’t mean that in a self-congratulatory way, either: more like ill-fitting clothing or not being able to catch your breath. As an adult, I’ve been able to explore everything from gender to religion, new music to new places, and I’m grateful for the space to do so.
F is for Front Street. It’s the main road in my little suburb: I both live and work on Front Street, just at different ends. Since I moved to my current place in June, I’ve been very glad that I can just walk the 17 minutes to work, instead of the hour or more bus rides I used to take. Front Street encompasses parts of campus, “downtown,” and regular housing. The best onion rings you’ll ever eat are on Front Street at Boss Chick’n Beer: they’re thickly sliced and prepared by any one of their sassy, extroverted employees.
G is for the Great British Bake Off. I am too anxious for most television; regular life is stressful enough, so I don’t want more of it in entertainment. Despite ostensibly being a competition show, the formula of the Great British Bake Off hits just right for me, and I often have it on while I’m cross stitching. I’ve probably watched the 2014 competition at least 10 times. It has also been a bridge to bonding with several of my friends—one of my other college mentors turned colleagues, Jess, and I often text about each new episode.
H is for Harriet Ware, a 20th century composer. I learned about her mostly by chance: as a college junior, I was reading through the library’s special collection catalogue and found a sheet music to one of her songs, “A Day in Arcady.” I ended up writing my whole undergraduate thesis on her vast, yet mostly forgotten repertoire of art songs and solo piano works. Near the end of my thesis writing, I even got to visit her grave site on Long Island—quietly, by myself, on a grey February morning shortly before our wind ensemble performed at Carnegie Hall. I’m especially grateful for that visit, as it was such a humane blessing to say thank you to the person I’d been studying for so long.
I is for ice cream. I’ll talk more about living in Madison, Wisconsin later, but my old house there was one block away from two different outstanding ice cream parlors. How lucky was I? My grandparents have always had ice cream in their freezer, and the rituals we have around it are sacred. The silver ice cream scoop that is older than I am rarely goes a day without usage when any of us grandkids or great-grandkids are visiting.
Oh Hal, I didn’t realize that you were going to St. Paul, with a Uhaul no less! It would have been great to see you again. St. Paul is only 15-20 miles from where I live.
"It's the writer in me yearning to put the story into words on the page" So, so beautiful!!
This was a wonderful list! I always slack on being intentional with the gratitude I have around my life and this is a perfect exercise to get me into that headspace more deeply! I’ll have to return or share my own when I can! I’m struggling to think of a list, I’ve gotta be honest!
Wonderful, as usual, Hal. I love that you find rest, warmth and rejuvenation in that float tank of yours…but grateful you never told me what you paid for it or all the details about installing it.
You know how thrifty Dad and I have always been and you can be assured that we would have advised you against buying it. (Just one more example of how important it is for parents to ‘trust’ their adult kids to do the right thing.🤗)
Your list is wonderful, Hal, as is your blaze. Will be looking forward to the rest of the alphabet.
Substack makes it easy.