Pleasures of Summer Work

Summer work takes on many forms and shapes for me. This summer has been a quieter one, with occasional local workshops at various camps, childcare centres and community events. Today I had the privilege of giving drumming workshops for groups of kids in two different family shelters . At the end of the second one, I said to the group, “now we are going to play our finale where we bring in everything we have worked on so far, the two drum parts, the gankogui, the axatse, the singing….” and without skipping a beat the 10 year old boy next to me adds “and our happiness!” I have been doing this for so many years, I can roll with almost any comments and situations that come up. But today I literally felt my insides contract and realign and it was a few seconds before I could continue, I was so moved. Truly a privilege to be there. Throwing the drums in the back of the van, I never know where it will lead but its always interesting and sometimes just takes my breath away.