Dad Post #227

Sophie, Michael and I walked out of Yorktown Mall last weekend past a very colorful, beautifully-knitted mitten. It was partner-less, which is conspicuous for a thing almost always found in twos. Indeed, it was wet, dirty, and all by itself in the middle of the road. Since I have a weird, distractible, hyperactive mind, I blurted, “That poor, lonely mitten.” And there it was… the name of our band! Yes! We are starting a band and calling ourselves ‘Lonely Mitten.’ It has such an unbeatable ring to it, and God knows we have the pieces: Michael is a cello prodigy, Sophie plays the trumpet like Dizzy Gillespie, Cole is also a genius on the cello, and Megan is learning the flute recorder in music class. All four will probably attend Julliard someday. So we have strings, brass, woodwinds. I know some kickass guitar, specifically two Nirvana riffs and one each by Alice In Chains and Bob Marley. So there’s that. Jeanette is up for maracas and vocal accompaniment. We’re thinking less cowbell than Christopher Walken, but our creative souls are wide open, man, we just wanna feel the music, we wanna BE the music. In fact, I can already feel it! Holy shit! Lonely Mitten is gonna change the world!

For the record, as leader of Lonely Mitten, I won't be as intense as J.K. Simmons in "Whiplash," but my bandmates WILL BE AMAZING or they WILL BE PUNISHED!

My two favorite things are coaching and shopping for used books. Yesterday, at the Salvation Army on Grand and Union (near the Merchandise Mart, my professional home), I stumbled on this little gem. It's so very perfect for Megan :)