“You’ve gotta dance like there’s nobody watching,
Love like you’ll never be hurt,
Sing like there’s nobody listening,
And live like it’s heaven on earth.”
– William W. Purkey
As Cradoc plays the clarinet, an instrument he hasn’t played since he was thirteen-years-old, I look out the window to the boats going up the Douro river.
I sway my body to the music, as I think about all the detours that brought me to this moment in time.
I’m rooted where I am for now, but I still need to replant myself from time to time when I outgrow the container of my life.
This makes me think about how in thirty years of marriage I’ve never outgrown the container of love for my husband.
He still surprises me with new dreams, new instruments to play, and new photo projects to focus on.
I watch his fingers move on the clarinet playing a romantic song, Clair de Lune (Moonlight), a piano piece written in 1905 by the French composer Claude Debussy.
When he was asked what rule he followed while composing the music Debussy said, “Mon plaisir.” (My pleasure). His pleasure becomes everyone else’s pleasure when we listen to his song.
A song that stirs up memories of simpler times, of fireflies on hot summer nights, of homemade strawberry ice cream, of jumps into calm waters.
Cradoc finishes the song and puts down his clarinet just as the evening church bells start to ring and noisy birds fly by excitedly on their way to find the perfect tree to roost in for the night.
Maybe all we need to do is approach our creativity and our lives with what brings us pleasure, listening to the music in our hearts, and following our natural instinct to roost within the container of love.
