Easter day has passed for this year. It's spiritual meaning has significance for me and as an active musician in my church I find myself to be quite busy. It's a bit of a "like/dislike" situation for me. I love the music and it makes me feel good to be able to contribute. But it takes some effort and being a lazy person by nature I find that the additional practice required is inconvenient. Now, however the day has passed and I can relax for a day or two before going to work on some other projects.
As a child, and until I was a young adult, I wanted to be a singer. I've always enjoyed singing, it's come easy to me, and I'm told I have a pleasant voice. However, I walked away from professional aspirations when I was twenty-four because my voice simply would not hold up after a couple of hours. At the end of the night my throat would hurt and I couldn't talk above a whisper. So I switched to playing solo guitar. As long as my fingers worked I could perform. Singing for me was reduced to singing a song here and there but not for two or more hours.
I like to sing in church though. I'm attracted to the old hymns that our church relies on and until recently it didn't bother my throat too much. But in the past few years just singing a little bit often hurts. And breathing has become more difficult for singing purposes. I've spoken to a doctor and I've taken a few voice lessons from some friends that I respect and we have not found a solution. So I had the uncomfortable duty of telling my pastor that I can't be relied on to sing the special music for next years celebration. I am a forward thinking person though and I have some ideas that hopefully will be an improvement over what I've done in the past.
After church my wife and I hosted our annual Easter dinner for our immediate family. One teenage grand-daughter actually put her phone down and had a conversation with me. This is unusual as many other parents and grandparents will attest. We went through the obligatory "What do you want to be when you grow up" topic. She was polite enough not to roll her eyes, then we moved off of that topic and touched on few others including music. She plays flute in the marching band and enjoys it. When I mentioned that I occasionally play duets with a flutist she got excited. So we went into my office for a moment and I dug out some flute/guitar music to show her. It looks like "Grandpa" has a new duet partner. This could be fun!
The only thing constant in life is change. It can be difficult, challenging, life changing, or fun and exciting. Emotionally I don't deal with change well, but I'm pragmatic enough to understand that change will occur whether I like it or not. So Easter this year brought changes, challenges, and new opportunities. But then again, that's kind of an "Easter" thing.