As part of my summer blogs, I just couldn’t resist sharing this with you!  Meet Marcus Elliot.  He is an amazing Sax player and Composer in Detroit, Michigan.  He has recently written and performed an fascinating piece of music dedicated to his mother.  One of the most beautiful parts of his journey with this challenging time in his life is his recognition of the value of really being present in the moment.  He’s someone I’m honored to know.  Please read what he has written and listen to “Aesthetically Present”

“April 27th, 2019, my mother was diagnosed with cancer, multiple myeloma. This news really shook me at my core. As time went on I begin to find myself trying to distract myself from the reality that I was faced with. One of those distractions that I fell into was hoping for “more time”. I found myself hoping and praying for more time with my mother, and hoping that all of the treatments that she will receive will work, and hoping that things would be better than they were at that time.

I did all of this hoping with the thought that doing so could only better the situation. I was wrong. It did not better the situation. If anything, it created a distance between myself and the reality of where my mother was at. It was not allowing me to be present with her at this moment and time. The “more time” that I was hoping for was already happening. I was missing the exact thing that I was hoping for because I took for granted the fact that every single moment that we are alive and we are with one another is the “more time”.

Our lives are not a given, every moment is truly a gift. For me, music is an exercise in this principle of being present. Music allows us for a brief second to realize just how beautiful, precious, and fragile these moments that have been entrusted to us are. “Aesthetically Present” was written during the time that all of this was happening in my life. It was not originally written with this theme in mind, but it felt appropriate and necessary to dedicate the music to the time that it was written inside of.

Thank you to my mother, Jo-Lynn Miller, for your love, strength, wisdom, and encouragement. If I already don’t say it enough then please, let me say it again, I love you.

Sincerely, Marcus Elliot”

Such a joy to know such talented people!!!

Ka-ching

Shell Tain, the Untangler