Saturday Night in Columbia/HoCo

Saturday evening I attended my first indoor concert since the Before Times. It was a concert presented by the music department at the high school where my husband teaches. The evening was filled with the sounds of band, strings, choral singing, guitars, and piano.

It was wonderful.

Of course it was hard for these young people to lose opportunities to learn together and perform together over the last year and a half. There are many reasons why this was a loss, not just musically but socially. Nonetheless I am so grateful that our county made the difficult choices to prevent the spread of COVID. We can grieve opportunities lost while rejoicing in the return of the things we love.

It was truly a celebration to be in that room with other families and be filled with the joy those young people were sharing through their music. It brought to mind this quote from Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town”:

Oh, earth, you're too wonderful for anybody to realize you. Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it -- every, every minute?

Perhaps you’ve had that experience recently. Maybe it was at a school event, like mine was, but in some other form: athletics, or theatre. It might have been a community gathering or even going to the movies.

As we carefully venture forward, still mindful of COVID and our own health and that of our neighbors, what are some things in Columbia/HoCo that you have found yourself savoring with an exceptional joy?

It might be as simple as being able to meet a friend for coffee. It might be a performance long postponed. As hard as life continues to be for many, there are small joys that are worth celebrating. Have you had one of those moments when it clicked for you how utterly amazing it was to be able to do something again?

You know where to share.

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