On the Topic of Music

My entire family is musical. I'm actually one of the worst (in terms of musical talent anyway) in my family. I am the fifth child out of six kids; my younger brother Daniel is the sixth. By the time we were nearly grown up, the other siblings had all moved out and our parents were tired. Generally tired, of course, but specifically: they were tired of raising kids. At this point, they had been doing it for a long time, and were optimistic that my brother and I would manage to make our way in the world with basic input.

But we weren't so successful at figuring out how the world worked, my younger brother and I. What we had in common was a sort of aimlessness that our older, relatively more accomplished siblings lacked. They were the sort of people who acquired nursing degrees and practiced various professions. We were the kind of people that worked third shift at the Waffle House (not that there's anything wrong with that).

The good news is that all this aimlessness gave us plenty of time to be creative, each in our own way. My brother is a songwriter (@danieldyemusic). I write too, as well as doing a bunch of other things, mostly in the line of community-building (which sounds vague, but I'm not sure I'm up for explaining it right now. I'll let my posts do the talking).

Last year (I think?) I recorded this song with @danieldyemusic for an EP we made called Back to Ohio. It's a wacky little number, but one of my favorites of his many songs, as it reminds me of my youth, post high school, in which I wandered along and hoped I could convince myself and my patient parents that I'm not crazy. I think, in all the years that have followed leaving home, I have succeeded.

Next week, Daniel is bringing his family from Ohio to Massachusetts to visit my family. We plan to play a few tunes together, of course. It will be like the old days, only better, because we both have managed to find our way. Most of the time anyway.

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