All In One Day

Things That Happened Yesterday, A List:
The big sister painted a red heart on the little sister's cheek in the morning.
I bounced a superball so high that it hit the ceiling twice in one throw.
The dog bit off the Barbie's leg, and I found her with gauze wrapped around the stub.
The boy twin made his Valentine Box by himself in 5 minutes before school because I forgot.
I used hot-curls to fix the girls' hair for the Daddy-Daughter Dance.
I got five valentines.
I threw my coat over my face in the high school hallway to avoid embarassing my son by my presence, naturally attracting a bit more attention by trying to avoid it.
I startled a choir director by not knocking before I walked into the choir room.
I shook hands with somebody who made me cry last Saturday and let bygones be-gones.
I took the boys to Angel's Cafe for supper.
The boy twin poured sugar all over his french fries by mistake and just shrugged when his food was wrecked.
The oldest boy shared his supper with the boy twin and wasn't stingy.
I played BlackJack and Crazy Eights.
The boy twin and I played a duet on a marimba.
One of the children signed their valentine to me, "Sincerely," and it made me laugh.
I got gas for under 3 bucks a gallon.

I just wanted to make a list so I'd remember.

Heart and Soul

I was in my studio last night, playing Heart and Soul on the piano. The middle child has discovered this at school and wants to learn it. The children were all upstairs watching the Friday night movie, and I was just noodling on the bass part. I was thinking about all the ways it can be played differently, and how to teach her something about music through it.

The boy twin appeared, jumpy and excited. "It's too scary for me!" he says.

I patted the bench and he sat down close. I said, "Here is C. I'm going to play a song where C is Home, will you play with me?" When he nodded, I think his whole body lifted and settled -- what were they watching upstairs? He was twitchy and vibrating.

So I whispered in his ear, "C is Home. You can play anything you like, and you can go anywhere you like, but just keep coming back Home.

And don't go too far away, or you may get lost.
And don't forget where Home is.
Right here, next to the group of two black keys."

He nodded, bumping on the seat to begin, so I played, and he played above me, with the courage and the freedom of an 8 year old boy.

Seconds later he was gone, attempting the excitement of the movie again. I kept exploring how to move from C to A, to F, to G...

Five minutes later he was back and resumed his position, playing high and strong and now trying with both hands, then he disappeared.

For the next half hour, I kept on a steady pulse of a simple song in the basement studio of the house. He came and went without speaking, adding his free-wheeling melody to my soft structure.

I thought about him leaping up from a particularly alarming scene on the television. Excitement propelling him down the basement stairs, through the dark play room, toward the light coming from my studio door. Toward the murmur of music that was just the same as when he left.

Seems like that is what Home is all about. A constant drone of familiarity that you keep coming back to. A hum in the foundation of your world that is always there, in the back of your mind, for when life gets too scary.

Heart and Soul playing on and on.