Reversal: A Traveling Musician Provides the Respite

I am excited to prepare for a reversal today.

As the traveler who plies the pathways of our nation and beyond to bring handmade music to listeners far and near,  when I look at a map I see a whole host of locations across the USA and Canada which are not just unknown names and locations.   They are the homes and worlds of my friends.

As we approach our birthdays, I was having a conversation about this with my fellow musician and friend, Joe Jencks, this week.

We were reflecting on the fact that often we have few close friends that live where we live, but in no way are we bereft of the warmth, support and challenge of friendship.

Quite on the contrary, we are blessed with the richness of friends.

But now, as I prepare my home to host one of my earliest friends, I find myself on the giving end of the hospitality and the anticipation of opening our home to give what has so generously been given to me.  And I am excited to share in the way that I have been received, hoping to provide that kind of welcome and respite for the traveling one.

Still, what makes this visit special is that the awaited one is a friend who I've known since I was 3 or 4 years old!  That is over a half-century of friendship!

In our mobile society, that kind of friend is a rare treasure.  One of our mutual friends calls this a "reconnected" friendship.  And for all that we disdain about social media, Facebook has played an important role as a tool in these reconnections for many of us from my Ohio hometown.

So I'm just going to be grateful and celebrate gratitude....

....that and we'll take her to the ocean!