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Andrew Jazprose Hill's avatar

The day after I wrote this piece, I looked out the window and noticed a young woman walking her dog. It was a gloriously beautiful day with the just-washed look that follows recent rain. She wore denim cut-offs, sneakers, and a polo shirt. Her shiny black hair cascaded down her back like an obsidian waterfall. The dog scampered about at the end of her leash, and she tripped several times as she passed my home. But it wasn't the dog that tripped her. She was looking at her phone the entire time. I realized then that I had written this piece for her though I have no idea who she is.

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Deborah Brasket's avatar

Wow! This hit so many shiny buttons for me. Loved the story of Mattie and now I want to read that play. Loved the part about she "tries too hard." Don't we all at different times of our lives. In one way it shows how earnest and eager we are, and that's a good thing. But it's like you said when we aren't trying so hard that things will drop unbidden like grace into our laps. And then the part about creativity being soul-growing work. Whether we're good at it or not, it's good for us. So true.

And that quote from Our Town. I played a small part in that during a high school, but that sense of not wanting to let all these small ordinary happenings in my life to slip by me unnoticed that has been so important in my life, it may have been spurred by that play.

Finally, Beethoven's concerto and that piano piece--priceless. I have a baby grand, a present to myself because I loved playing the piano as a child and always wanted to play again. But I kept putting it off until I watched Margaret Argerich playing piano with her whole body on You-tube and all that wild gray hair flowing around her. That's when I decided it's not too late for me. I'll never be able to play like her. But I can play. And I can sway. And I do.

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