Rhapsody in Blue

I was in the middle of a perfectly mediocre book. Nice characters. Small story. Page-long moments describing the cakes this narrator liked to bake. The text cursorily touched on the issues of any inter-generational household, but the main attraction was the cakes. The book wasn't bad, it wasn't great. Just right for curling up with in bed each night as my brain circles the idea of sleep.

But I hit a moment about half-way through the text that has stuck with me. An eighty-something year old grandmother, life-long elementary school accompanist, sits down to the piano to settle a good-natured bet with her ex-husband. The ex-husband has placed some wager that the woman cannot play without sheet music. She dusts off the piano bench and plays an expressive, tumbling, sultry, jazzy rendition of Rhapsody in Blue that leaves the whole family gobsmacked.

The characters are no strangers to the sight of the woman's knobby hands at the piano. But her playing was always in the context of private piano lessons or accompanying the fourth grade chorus. Her posture impeccable, her sheet music neatly organized, and the music was always supportive and efficient. The depths of her talent and passion as a musician had eluded them. By the end of the chapter I felt a little drunk with a sense of glee.

It's one of those moments I deeply hope for. Late in my life to still be a bit of a mystery, hear someone utter the phrase "I never knew you had it in you..." at least once. To inspire a sense of surprise, no matter how small or fleeting, in myself or a room of my familiars. Hoping I won't grow brittle inside my own skin with age. Some part of my brain, or spirit, or living would still be malleable.

If I could walk away twenty bucks richer from the wager we had riding on it...well...all the better.

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Reading with Naomi: Flush by Carl Hiaasen
Currently Listening To: Feminism and The Future of Women by Estelle Freedman
Potential Overshare: I got a promotion at work and was overcome by a Sally Fields moment where I felt valued and well liked. Good stuff.