Muse

I am the sum of my friends. Each person I've met, every interaction, every encounter, every relationship, has contributed something to making me. 

I was 8 when I discovered that I heard music differently than the people around me. That intrigued me for a short time; it puzzled me longer. Then, sadly, it frightened me. That's a different story for another time. For some intuitive reason, I kept this realization to myself a while.  Like say, 19 years. 

By the time I was 27, there was a woman on the 6th floor.  The way I remember it, she grabbed me by the collar and shook me a little and said, referring to my music, "it's not a hobby, kid. This is who you are!"

I wonder if that's the way she remembers that conversation. We've had lots of conversations about all kinds of things. European Travel, Rural Homesteads, Children's Books, Sitcoms and Websites and Ceviche. 

She says things that amaze me.  Honestly, she has a way of saying that one thing I would never have thought of in a million years. Yet once I've heard it, I think how blindingly obvious it ever was. 

She lived with me many years. I wish I had more pictures. 

And of all the things she said to me, I wonder if there will be any more important than this: 

"it's not a hobby, kid..."

A single phrase to describe my friend Suzanne: Gypsy Dancer Muse