This week I took a trip to Toronto—aka The Big Smoke—to witness my niece’s stage debut as the Witch in an adaptation of Sondheim’s Into the Woods, and at the same time was able to connect in Real Life (radical!) with my blogging partner-in-crime, Marcia Whitehead, aka Too-Quiet-to-Quit, as well as get some quality time with my ever-inspiring Mom. Thus, there are multiple possible threads this week’s post could pursue, so perhaps I will braid them together (as inspired by the Anishinaabeg teaching around braiding sweetgrass–see below) and see where that takes me.
Firstly: what a treat to meet someone whose work in the blogosphere I have been admiring for some time, and meet her FOR REAL. Marcia’s candour and exceptional writing style have impressed me, and we connected via our writings on topics of, well, singing and selfhood. Although my own blog posts have personal connections that circle around my work as a singer, teacher of singing and performer, they tend to be more episodic and based on a theme I wish to explore each week, where Marcia’s tell a continuing narrative of her own personal singing journey and read like a thriller (she’s a master of the cliffhanger!). Our interests intersect in how embodiment, emotion and our individual life stories are reflected in our singing journey. So it was a delight to be able to sit for an hour or so over coffee (thanks, Poured Coffee!) and talk variously about the body’s innate wisdom and intelligence, the non-linear nature of learning and vocal/personal development, stories about performing, anxiety, solutions for anxiety (ice baths! Body work! Mindfulness!) and how these all inform our writing and our lived experience.
Secondly: Marcia encouraged me to write a little about my Mom, who at almost-83 is a living, breathing example of vitality in later life. She’s actively engaged in a million activities, continues to grow and learn, moves her body daily (she even works with my personal trainer online and has BICEPS) and is generally an inspiration to her children and grandchildren, not to mention countless others in her wider circles. More specifically, she was constantly front of mind for me as I prepared and performed my recent role of Maddy in Three Decembers (see my recent blog posts on the subject), because Maddy, like my Mom, is a survivor of suicide who raised a family on her own after losing her husband. Although the circumstances were different, my Mom’s resilience and inner strength meant that she successfully shepherded three kids into adulthood, all while getting a Masters degree and growing her skill as a public health nutritionist among many other things. There’s so much more I could say about her (and maybe I will in future), but for now, that’s the main message—Mom as inspiration. [As a little side note, my Mom told me last night as we were visiting that her adopted daughter-in-law is an avid reader of this blog (what?!?) and thinks it is “one of the best ones out there” about singing and singers (again: whaaat?!?!). This was really exciting news for me. So: thanks Maria, for spreading the word!]
Then Thirdly, there’s legacy: my niece Samantha (Sammy) has discovered a love of theatre, singing and acting. In her fledgling performance, she demonstrated a flair for the stage, a command of the audience and tremendous physical presence. It was so delightful to see someone in my family doing something like what I do. Thrilling, in fact. Best of all, I saw her light up as she celebrated post-show with her friends, her stage (and school) community, all forged through the power of art.
These three threads made me think of how everything is intersecting and interconnected. It reminded me that we are always stronger in community and shared experience. My understanding of the sweetgrass teaching (as told to me by Kelly Laurila, among others, and expanded upon by Robin Wall Kimmerer in her book of the same name) is that alone, a strand of sweetgrass is weak. But when bound together with others as a braid, it is unbreakable.