Pinching Myself (and liking it)

Aloha!

I just had to take a moment and reflect on something. Seems I've been go-go-go for a while here, which has resulted in some pretty eye-opening stuff.

The 1st Annual Key West Dulcimer Fest wrapped up not even a week ago and was a tremendous success. Before then, I'd not organized anything larger than an open mic night (unless you count the production of the short film "Meds"), so it was a blast to see a whole year's worth of work culminate in a four-day party with music, great weather, wonderful people and a sweet vibe.

Now, back home in the studio, with nothing on my schedule except a recording session at Full Sail next week and my usual monthly two-nighter at Dicey Reilly's Irish Pub, I can finally settle down and finish work on my recording projects. Kinda. Because each day, I'm still managing my career; it's a lot of juggling, working online, maintaining connections and making new ones. You know how you could always do more, but then again you could always do less and somewhere in the middle is a decent place to be. There's a place where you can still do it for the love and not let it break you, or leave a sour taste in your soul.

As I'm doing my morning administrative stuff on this Saturday, I happened to look at my booking calendar and was stunned to see that, during this first week of February, I'm already scheduled for every month of the year except December (which has traditionally been a month that I've taken off in order to rest up and enjoy the holidays with my family.)

I used to lie awake, just before sleep descended upon me as a child, dreaming about a life like this - doing what I love, traveling, making music, meeting people, lending a hand, cruising in happiness. What that all amounts to is this: dreams do come true.

But not only if you believe - there must be hard work involved as well. Along the way, there were many who tried to dissuade me, convince me there was another path or outright discourage me from my attempts, dismissing them as futile. Others, however, drop e-mails now and then with the gentle words "I always knew you'd make it happen."

After I finish typing this blog, I'm going to sit down and continue doing what I've always done - fighting and scrabbling for each little bit of purchase on the slippery slope of life. Every day, it's run scales, work with a metronome, dig into different tunings, learn songs that I don't know, write and record, design and connect. It never stops, but it sometimes plateaus, and those are the moments when you can sit back, relax and appreciate the view.

This is one of those moments.

Moment is over - back to work. : )

Thanks for all of you out there who believed, and thanks to all out there who did not. Thanks to those who support and encourage the music and thanks to those who don't.

I'm pinching myself and liking it.