{"id":379497,"date":"2013-12-08T17:36:00","date_gmt":"2013-12-08T17:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/2013\/12\/08\/music-to-my-ears\/"},"modified":"2013-12-08T17:36:00","modified_gmt":"2013-12-08T17:36:00","slug":"music-to-my-ears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/2013\/12\/08\/music-to-my-ears\/","title":{"rendered":"Music to My Ears"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Friends, I started the week off with the most magnificent sounds of the season you can imagine!<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
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And here\u2019s me with three members of Mannheim Steamroller\u2019s Red Touring Group!<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
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Three Members of the Red Touring Group<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
L-R: Jeff Yang, Tom Sharpe, Joey Gulizia<\/span> <\/div>\n

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<\/span>I\u2019ve listened to them for YEARS, and here they showed up in my backyard!<\/span><\/div>\n
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Okay, not literally of course, but practically in my back yard! AND they indulged me with this photo\u2026<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
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(though the poor violinist on the left might not be so charitable the next time\u2026looks like I nearly sliced his neck with my program!)<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
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If you\u2019ve never heard their Christmas you must run, RUN I tell you, to the nearest store and pick up any one of their Christmas CD\u2019s.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
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I promise you will LOVE EVERY NANO SECOND OF THE SHOW.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
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And if you ever have the chance to see one of the touring groups in person, ditch the dress heels, strap on your running shoes and get to the ticket counter as fast as you can.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
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This music is even more spectacular in person, and these band members?<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
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Every single one of them plays multiple instruments, as in like four or five or more!<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
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No kidding.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
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And the one drummer, Tom Sharpe, it\u2019s as if those drum sticks are a fluid extension of his body. I\u2019ve never seen anything like it folks; his body Feels<\/i>. Every. Single. Note<\/i>.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
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Honestly. It\u2019s like he IS the music itself.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
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Want to know what I decided as I sat in that audience?<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
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If I had a bucket list, attending a Mannheim Steamroller concert would be at the top of it.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
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When I told the band director that during the meet and greet after the show, he smiled and told me, \u201cJust be sure to make it a long list.\u201d<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
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I\u2019ve never been the groupie type, but there\u2019s a first for everything isn\u2019t there…<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
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And, then there\u2019s the figurative music to my ears\u2026<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
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Things like, \u201cMy children will be home for Christmas\u201d and \u201cMy children will be home for Christmas.\u201d<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
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That\u2019s worth a chorus line, don\u2019t you think?!<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>The week wouldn\u2019t be complete without the next installment in the Soon-to-be-50 cards my mother has been sending.<\/span><\/div>\n

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Fifty is like the most glorious harmony to me because I\u2019ve survived, Journeyers.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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I\u2019ve lived through puberty and bulimia and depression and child loss and miscarriage and motherhood and infidelity (times two<\/i>) and a fire that claimed our family business and it\u2019s been seven years since I kicked a twenty-six year nicotine addiction.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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I\u2019ve cried and laughed and given up and stood up and I am here, turning fifty and finally, finally knowing what I want to be now that I\u2019m all grown up.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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Which means that the best years are ahead of me!<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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And get this\u2014people are actually going to pay me to be older<\/i>.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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I don\u2019t know about you, but I think that\u2019s one mighty fine birthday gift, one that just keeps on giving, day in and day out.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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This group is going to give me discounts and put more money in my pocket for things like trips to NYC<\/span><\/a> <\/span>and Europe<\/span><\/a>and Nacogdoches, TX<\/span><\/a>, and for those delicious smelling perfumes I love.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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Who knows, maybe those savings will begin today while I\u2019m out enjoying a little holiday shopping!<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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And I do mean enjoy, Journeyers. If you\u2019re out and about, I hope you, too, will not think of gift giving as a chore, but something you are doing from the heart\u2026<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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If you are stressed about it, then don\u2019t do it\u2026schedule a time for after the holidays to gather with friends and extended family\u2026<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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It won\u2019t be the end of the world. I promise.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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Christmas, after all, isn\u2019t about commercialism; it\u2019s about the music of that moment we call birth\u2026life\u2026<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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May you feel your own heart songs in the coming week, Journeyers\u2026<\/span>

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Speaking of life and the heart, Warren and I finished out the week by attending a Lee Greenwood and Crystal Gayle holiday concert.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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Though we were two of the youngest audience members, we couldn\u2019t have felt more united when Lee sang Proud to be an American<\/i>!<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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Ditching my purse at the last second meant that I forgot my phone, which means that I didn\u2019t get a single photo for this post or for my mom, who adores Mr. Greenwood!<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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That\u2019s the great thing about imagination, though; it\u2019s the next best thing to being there!<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/o:p> <\/span>What about you? What musical or other Moments(s) fed your happy this week?<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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Soon\u2026<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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\ufeff<\/div>\n
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Friends, I started the week off with the most magnificent sounds of the season you can imagine! And here\u2019s me with three members of Mannheim Steamroller\u2019s Red Touring Group! Three Members of the Red Touring Group L-R: Jeff Yang, Tom Sharpe, Joey Gulizia I\u2019ve listened to them for YEARS, and here they showed up in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3755,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[316,1153,153,317,106,1154,1155,320,1156,432,497],"class_list":["post-379497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-happyhappens","tag-aarp","tag-europe-vacation","tag-finding-happiness-in-your-day","tag-joy","tag-mannheim-steamroller","tag-music-to-my-ears","tag-random-happiness","tag-tedxsfa","tag-tedxwomen","tag-turning-50"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Mannheim-Steamroller-Program.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379497\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}