brand new skin

i got a bitch of a sunburn about a week ago. all over my chest and my thighs and my grill. man, it is RED. the gal i was sitting next to at the pool asked if i was going to put some sunscreen on, and i told her i was trying to get some color. she looked at me over her sunglasses, grinned, and laid back on her lounger. 3 hours later, i looked like i bumped chests with the kool-aid guy. i writhe in pain and do all i can to resist itching my my rosy skin while writing this blog.

the summer is full of projects for our family. home improvements (right now we've got some dudes installing a bunch of windows), car shopping (we test drove an '09 Saab suv), vacationing (4 week western swing coming up in a month), private teaching (sort of fun), and a whole lot of woulda-coulda-shoulda with our careers. despite the fact that sonja has a book coming out, i dropped a new cd, she's pushing for tenure, we're both headed to wyoming for some teaching, i've got a jazz band up & running, blah blah blah...it's hard to figure out where you're at in this world.

i want to be sure that i leave a quality amount of art for people to thumb through after i croak. sonja and i are both cognizant that our teaching is our #1 job priority and will in fact be a legacy of its own. but i've gotta tell you...the grass certainly is greener on the other side. friends playing gigs all over the country, traveling overseas, opening for big acts, touring, winning auditions, landing teaching jobs - all very exciting developments.

sonja & i take turns serving as each others' therapist (that's part of wedded bliss, right?) we pump each other up and put things in perspective. and we both realize that 1) we should probably bust our ass harder than we do now, 2) we should take a break more frequently than we do now, 3) we should definitely continue to be grateful for the opportunities afforded to us, and 4) our hard work and balance in our lives has helped us create and maintain those opportunities.

college teaching is a trip, especially in the music world. one-on-one teaching has its benefits but certainly takes its toll. the older we get, the more we realize that (as my mentor john rapson used to say to me) the race is not to the swift. we use the summer to shed our old skin and grow some new stuff and take time to enjoy the weather, hang with our kids, daydream about new vehicles, fix up the crib, watch each other grow and mature musically, and catch up on all of our law & order episodes.