A Day as a Mom of Boys

Me witnessing Cole Pick his nose then proceed to eat it I say to him 

"Cole, don't do that it's really yucky" 

He then looks at me and says with a Matter of Fact look on his face and sternness in his tone of voice 

"Mom, I do dat all duh time"

A good reminder to stop and listen sometimes.

“A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that 1,100 people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

Three minutes went by, and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace, and stopped for a few seconds, and then hurried up to meet his schedule.

A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping, and continued to walk.

A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.

The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried, but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally, the mother pushed hard, and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.

In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money, but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the most talented musicians in the world. He had just played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, on a violin worth $3.5 million dollars.

Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.

This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste, and priorities of people.

The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?

One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?”

Lets start the year with a blog post.

I don't have much to say today. Things around here have just been chugging along. We had a good Christmas. Chad has been working hard (Love that man) The boys are growing like weeds. And I've just been cleaning house. Isn't that how every family works? I do have a couple of big projects in mind to do in the next few months that involve cleaning scrubbing de-cluttering and crafting. I didn't set any "New Years Resolutions" I think those are just silly. I think every one should always have goals in the back of their mind to better themselves. So I will always be working toward those. But I am looking forward to this coming year. It will be a good one for our family.