I grew up in South Carolina.

This latest mass shooting hit particularly close to home. I’m tired of mass shootings. I’m tired of all shootings. I’m tired of our politicians saying nothing can be done, when this really only happens in the US. And I’m tired of people acting like racism doesn’t exist, when it so obviously is alive and well. I feel terrible for the victims of this current shooting, just as I feel terrible for the victims of every shooting. This has to stop. It’s just ridiculous. We have to stop killing each other.

So how do I go from a serious topic to a frivolous one, like what’s happening in my life? How do I blog at a time like this? Then again, if I didn’t blog on the days or weeks of a mass shooting…when would I blog? And that sounds like a joke, but it’s not. How many more have to die before we start getting rid of the guns?

I guess I’ll focus on what I always do. Music and teaching music to other people. They say you can’t hold a gun in your hand if your hands are full of a musical instrument.

So…this was a busy week. I was coaching sectionals for a local strings camp. The camp had 3 different orchestras, from beginning to more advanced, and I helped with the violin sections of each group each day. I got to practice my excellent conducting skills on many occasions, sing, play violin, and try my darnedest to keep my voice steady and remain patient in the face of adversity (such as children who refused to stop plucking their violin strings after you just asked them directly to stop). You know, a normal teaching day. After a morning of sectionals each day I had my regular teaching schedule…so the days were long! I’m also practicing for my upcoming recital and some other pieces I’ll be doing in the fall (summer is repertoire planning time, I guess) and running and trying to clean up the house.

It’s been raining basically nonstop this week due to Tropical Storm Bill (and no, we aren’t really on the coast, and sending a tropical storm our way just kind of rubs it in) but we finally saw a break in the rain last night, so I got a 3 mile run (or so, I messed up and accidentally stopped my app) in before going out for some tacos with Louie. That’s a long, poorly written sentence! I’m planning to start training for the MO Cowbell Half Marathon next week—I’m going to do a 12 week training program with a 3 week break in the middle for our Western Road Trip. We will be active on the trip but I don’t plan to stress out over running or anything, because I want to hike and sightsee and take a million pictures and relax.

There were lovely raspberries from the garden though! The rain kind of ruined what was left, but this picture is from last weekend.

Other events of the week:

Brunch at the Botanical Gardens with April and other friends.

Dinner later in the week at Meskerem Ethiopian Restaurant.

Lobster ravioli from Trader Joe’s with a butter/garlic sauce with perhaps a bit too much garlic…

This guy

On a follow up note to my previous blog post …thank you for your comments. I’ve decided that I’m tired of being polite and nice to people who are being rude to me and won’t leave me alone about whether or not I am planning to have children or when I’m getting remarried. After writing that post, I had a very frustrating conversation with a colleague who kept badgering me about my life and whether I was going to have children, and he didn’t take the hints that I felt uncomfortable in the conversation. Reflecting on that has led me to feel like, yeah, I’m done. Unless you are my grandmother, I’m done validating my choices, I’m done answering your questions and I’m done with you all telling me that I need to have children before it’s too late, and I’m done with you all judging me for my divorce and worse, asking me what went wrong when you don’t even know how to correctly pronounce my last name or what state I grew up in. Guess what, you don’t know me well enough to ask those questions, and if you did know me well enough, you wouldn’t have to ask because I would have already told you.

Don’t worry, I’m not even that angry, I’m just getting worked up. Well, I am angry about the state of our country in many respects, but I hope that we can channel our collective anger into progress. As far as nosy and rude people, well they are everywhere. I feel more relaxed having made a decision on how to deal with them…I’m sure I’ll get to practice that soon!