Have I mentioned I'm a huge Johnny Cash fan?

We got the band back together last Saturday night, more or less. I hadn't played the bass in so many weeks. I'm embarrassed to say how many weeks. Lots.

And I was never that good, even way back when, in the summer, when we were playing all the time. I can't carry a tune at all, either. But in our band, I have what they graciously refer to as "timing". I can sing the song along with our playing. Which is more than can be said for some of us. Ahem.

All of this is totally and completely not.the.point.

I love to play. I love to hold the guitar, and take apart the song until I can figure it out. I get it pretty quickly, too. But again. Not so good. Awful, actually. And not the point.

The point is that this is one of my life-long fantasies. Being a part of a band. Playing the bass. I remember distinctly, in college, daydreaming about being the one up there playing Sympathy for the Devil, for instance, instead of being one of the lost and wandering drunken souls down on the dance floor, waiting for the chance to go home. I'm not an exhibitionist, not by a long shot. Actually, I get all blushed and rashy at the thought of someone listening to me, looking at me.
But it's a way to escape, withdraw, I guess. Or so it seemed, back then.

But now, that's not the point, either.

The point is that my husband is over there playing the guitar, and looking so earnest and happy. And our lead guitarist, well, he's practiced more than anyone, and has gotten so good that I want to get better, just to be able to keep up with him. And our keyboardist: he is constant, and steady, and who knew that he could play so beautifully, almost any song we pick, and keep it all going for us, even when we are fumbling and laughing so much we can barely make out which song we're on.

And then, another point: we are fumbling, and laughing and our kids are among us now, picking up any instrument left, joining in, a part of the band. And all of a sudden, we're all doing this amazing thing. This thing that we can teach them, and they can teach us, and we can all learn, together. This thing that makes us laugh, and makes us a part of something that is unlike any other part of our lives.

We're making music. Together.

We got the band back together last Saturday night. Music to my ears.

More tomorrow. Thanks for reading.
tt

ps. Johnny Cash, and Bob Dylan. And Neil Young. And lots of people who were born way before me. But I still do love that Bon Iver boy, even if he was born in 1981.