Seeing Beauty in Everything

[bardictiger]

Hey friends!

It's been a while, and I'm just checking in to say "Howdy!" and share.

My personal news is that back in July, I was fired from my job at the special ed school. It's probably the best worst thing that ever happened to me. I miss the awesome people I worked with, and there were some wonderful experiences there. I loved seeing the kids grow and learn, and it was fun goofing off with co-workers (and sometimes students), but it was also a very intense environment most of the time. It was probably not the best environment for a hyper-sensitive empath. I'm now looking forward to my next move. All I know for sure is that it has to do with writing and advocacy of some kind, about seeing the beauty and strength in people that often goes unnoticed beneath what is obvious.

You have to start off knowing that it's there and look for it. I've long been blessed with the ability to see beauty in the seemingly ordinary and it has sparked a passion for photography to go along with my passion for music. It was taught me no matter how seemingly grey or dead or broken something seems, there is greatness to be found too, and everything is perfect, exactly as it is. Every stumbling, terrified step forward is a step forward, nonetheless. The more we look for it, the more we see it.

I have mentioned in past posts that I play the flute. I started in the eighth grade, played through high school and put it down for a while thereafter, to pick it up again in 2005. Back in the 1994-95 school year, I was a Freshman in high school, and in band that year, I remember playing a concerto by Antonio Vivaldi in C for piccolo and band. No I wasn't the piccoloist, but it sparked a curiosity about classical music, so I went searching for more about Vivaldi and found a recording of Sir James Galway playing Vivaldi's Flute Concerto in D major "The Goldfinch." I fell so completely head over heels in love with that piece after hearing it, I swore someday I'd learn to play it. The first and third movements are still a little beyond my reach, but the second movement, the one that really caught my ear, was by far the easiest. I found sheet music a few years ago, but earlier this year, I was practicing and discovered that I had quite accidentally memorized snippets of it. That was it, I set myself to memorizing the rest. This is something I've loved and wanted to learn since the 9th grade, but memorizing it too? Really? Um, okay!

For a long time, I'd felt frustrated by trying to read and process sheet music while keeping a steady tempo, but had discovered that by playing from memory, it afforded me a kind of trust in myself and in the music within, so I could just let go and play with it. Last Sunday (12-11-11) I performed it for the first time during a church service with my friend, Khari, a brilliant young pianist and composer in his own right. I was nervous at first, but then really got into it, and it felt AMAZING! Later in the week, I said on Facebook that I wanted to make it into a music video. My friend, Jason, said he could help and asked me to send him the MP3 and any ideas for the video I had. I said I was thinking the music and some of the photos I'd taken. He took some of the photos I'd posted on Facebook, and well this is what came out of it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thnM3fDuJsM&feature=share

It's not like professional, but I'm very proud of it and grateful to both Jason and Khari, for being part of making something I love real. I think that alone, makes it truly beautiful. Thanks for reading guys, and have a Beauty filled day!
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Smiles and Sunshine 4ever,
Gina