Last Friday, I played at a Burns Night Dinner for the folks at St Joseph the Worker Catholic Church. Performing with me were several youngsters from the Donahue Highland Dance Academy. I played for the dancers for the first time since 1999.
Watching these young kids perform brought back memories from when I was a young beginner on the pipes, when everything was new and exciting. I thought back to the first time I played for a highland dancer, the early competitions and performances. Suddenly I remembered how nervous I would get. I remembered the weight of my pipes, the smell of the old hide bag, how strange it felt to put on a kilt for the first time. I remembered how exciting it was to go new places with the band, make new friends and learn new tunes.
I spent the entire evening pondering memories of experiences I had as a kid and the good friends I experienced them with.
Now don’t get me wrong… I’m still sworn off of pipe bands, but it was nice to escape thoughts of the many negative attributes of bands and just enjoy the good memories for a while. They are so vast!
Watching these young kids perform brought back memories from when I was a young beginner on the pipes, when everything was new and exciting. I thought back to the first time I played for a highland dancer, the early competitions and performances. Suddenly I remembered how nervous I would get. I remembered the weight of my pipes, the smell of the old hide bag, how strange it felt to put on a kilt for the first time. I remembered how exciting it was to go new places with the band, make new friends and learn new tunes.
I spent the entire evening pondering memories of experiences I had as a kid and the good friends I experienced them with.
Now don’t get me wrong… I’m still sworn off of pipe bands, but it was nice to escape thoughts of the many negative attributes of bands and just enjoy the good memories for a while. They are so vast!
1 comments:
David,
The mind is wonderful thing. It tends to erase or minimze the unpleasant and focus on the pleasant. Cherish your memories. In time you will find them to be the most valuable of all your accumulated treasures.
Pops
Post a Comment