F ³: Joy and Convenience

 

I was headed out to a concert last night in River Hill and thought I’d add to the fun of it by picking up dinner at Clarksville Commons. I went to their website and looked over the list of current food vendors. I pondered steamed momo, the novelty of a glizzy hot dog, or some Indian street food. Mmm…

But first, I had to get gas and I headed to our shiny new 7-eleven because I have the app and I get a discount. Plus, it’s convenient. 

Something happened to me as I stood there pumping gas. A little voice inside me said, “You could just run in and get a sandwich here and be done with it.” I wouldn’t have to park at the Common Kitchen, walk inside, wander around, make a decision…It would just be easier, wouldn’t it?

And that is how I ended up eating a chicken salad sandwich on squishy white bread which came wrapped in a plastic exoskeleton and some strawberry wafer cookies packaged in cellophane. Because it was convenient. 

I drove away pondering the concept of convenience. So that’s why they call it a convenience store, I thought. 

I could have had a wonderful food adventure. Something delicious, out of the ordinary and without question better than dinner from 7 Eleven. But in that moment the lure of the convenient far outweighed the potential variables of something across town. This realization weighed heavily on me.

The concert was a balm to my wounded spirits. Howard County Shredfest is a gathering of guitar students and performers who are involved in the new Modern Band course. It is similar to the assessments that other performing ensembles participate in - - kids from different schools perform for one another, there is an adjudicator to give feedback. There the similarities end. 

When I arrived students were wandering about onstage, checking instruments and amps, playing a riff or two, testing out keyboards. My husband’s students wore matching T shirts but the rest of the outfit was up to them. That is why one was sporting plaid pajama pants and two others were wearing shorts. 

Shredfest is an event where it doesn’t matter what the performers are wearing and where self expression is as big a part of the experience as meeting musical proficiency benchmarks. You’re not there to judge their physical appearance. You are there to enjoy what happens when they work together and share what they have learned. 

The first piece of the evening started out a bit rough. (It’s hard to be the opening act.) The song was “One Hand in my Pocket” by Alanis Morissette. As they got to the third verse something changed. The vocalist hit her groove and you felt her confidence as she sang. The guitarists responded. Everyone’s focus increased. The ensemble jelled. The singing was beautifully resonant and in tune. The audience felt the excitement.

At that moment the airplane had made it off the runway and had taken flight. And everyone felt it.

Joy broke out in the auditorium. It was the joy of doing what you love and taking the risk of sharing that thing with others. It was the joy of entering the zone, experiencing that state of flow and taking an audience along with you.  

Joy and curiosity are the same thing. Joy is always a surprise and often a decision. Joy is portable. Joy is a habit, and these days, it can be a radical act. Keep your nose to the joy trail.

- - Anne Lamott 

There is wonder in joy. There may be perfectly good reasons why you experience joy and yet it is still a surprise. It is in the “wow” that you feel at that moment. It may come in silence at the sight of a flower or with a surge in a room full of guitars. 

Curiosity, wonder, surprise, joy. All palpably different from convenience.

I did make the easy choice on dinner. There’s no denying that. If I had made the easy choice on my evening I would have stayed home in my easy chair and done the things I always do. It would have been convenient.

Last night I chose convenience but then I chose joy. I didn’t know I was choosing joy until it happened. It was a surprise.

And what it all boils down to

Is that no one's really got it figured out just yet

Well, I've got one hand in my pocket

And the other one is playin' a piano

And what it all comes down to, my friends, yeah

Is that everything is just fine, fine, fine

- - Alanis Morissette