It’s been months since I’ve posted anything here. I have a draft from May that I never made public. Reading it reminds me how fast things can change. Happy to share some positive news this Fall!
I just celebrated my 61st birthday. It’s the first bday in these last couple years that had any actual celebratory nature. At 59 Lisa was diagnosed and in treatment. At 60 she was gone. It was a relief this year not to be juggling such overwhelming sadness on the day of my birth!
Dante came up from Brooklyn. He recently relocated to Red Hook after several years in Harlem. He was born in Brooklyn and lived there until 10 years old, so I suspect a bit of a homecoming for him. He’s also closer to his mom, brother, and friends so a nice move for him. He drove up Saturday and we planted bulbs for the Spring in a garden I sketched out earlier this Summer. It pays tribute to Lisa, her brother Glenn, and their parents Ben and Irma. They’re all together in the stars now. I’m hopeful for a bounty of colorful flowers come Spring.
My big news is that I finally scored a job! I was unemployed since February 11 this year and an effort of over 1,000 (yes 1k) applications over the next 8 months produced nothing. Is it ageism? Do I suck? haha, who knows. The job market is terrible for all the reasons, and corporate ‘merika? can serious f%ck off. I spent 30 years of my life navigating that world only to be unceremoniously “down-sized”, or whatever multiple times. It’s a heartless, soulless, and meaningless void in my experience. Anyway, I’m back in the world of music education where I probably always belonged. I don’t make enough to live on but it will grow. I’m Assistant Director of the Academy of Music at Duchess Community College in Poughkeepsie. It’s a wonderful community music program offering individual lessons and classes as non-credit to people of all ages. It’s very similar to the position I held, twice, at the New School in NYC at the now defunct Guitar Study Center. It’s a PT gig, capped at 25 hours a week.
I’m also starting to pick up freelance design clients. I’m producing social media marketing for a psychology practice and looking to build more local, small business clients. I’m earning a fraction of the money I was prior, and not enough to live on, but it’s a start and by cobbling a few things together I’m seeing an end to the financial bleed that’s been freaking me the heck out all year. It’s a solid foundation to build from.
I’m really excited for some of my creative projects. I have so much unfinished music it overwhelms me; half-recorded this and that. Music that’s never been played, heard or actualized. I’m dead set on getting some things out there in ‘26. The one project that I feel has the most potential to be completed, and possibly well received, is a story I’m writing that is populated with dear characters I’ve invented over the last 25 years, several from Dante’s early childhood and a couple Lisa inspired. It’s a sweet story, probably aligned with teen/young adult readers. My goal is to have a full first draft by the New Year. Fun stuff.
I played more tennis this year than ever in my life! Super fun. My serve has been the source of much consternation, and I need to change my backhand grip, and my lower back tells me tennis is brutal, so my yoga game has been front and center as well.
I’m too isolated up here but I’m working on that. My tennis community has been successfully established and I want to develop my musical community next. There are tons of very talented players up here, I just need to get out and do it. I keep considering moving back into the city, Brooklyn, where I have close friends and my son, but I’m hampered by the intensity. Being here surrounded by nature, and quiet solitude, has been something I’ve yearned for over most of my adult life. Everything has a price. Everything. For now, my path is here in the Hudson Valley. As I continue to evolve into this new version of myself, I won’t be surprised if it leads back to Brooklyn, or possibly even somewhere entirely new.