Passionate

I'm looking back at my past blogs and they are generally dismal and sarcastic and today I realized something sort of wonderful in the people that I know and I figured I should let it brighten up my blog. So here it is.

So people generally regard the "millennial" generation, of which I am a part of, as one of dulled emotion, spite and unwillingness to admit we enjoy anything. Which is, for the most part, more true than we care to admit. But today I realized that within all of us is something that lights our fire, something that we could talk about for hours and never get bored, something that we are passionate about.

This began this morning in Wind Ensemble rehearsal. Last week we hit an all-time low in moral and musical camaraderie (as in, the lowest it has been in my four years of high school) and, determined to prove ourselves again, we had an excellent rehearsal, leaving all of us with our finale piece stuck in our heads. Later in the day, our drum major and first chair tuba player was humming it in math class and because I had heard it six thousand times in my own head, I turned around and said, with fake menace, "Don't you even dare." But after that he went on about how he loved the negative space in one of the movements and the instrumental layering in another. Then I jumped in and commented on my favorite part of the piece, the smooth and mysterious clarinet soli that begins the piece and without even knowing it, we had talked for 10-15 minutes about musical theory. It's no secret that he's a "music guy" but to look at him while he talks about the thing he loves is a rare and beautiful sight, especially among my emotionally dimmed classmates.

Then I started thinking about all the people in my life who I've had the privilege of listening to talking about their passion. I tease him but when I listen to my brother ranting about a certain movie's flaws or praises it is blatantly obvious that this kid loves what he is talking about. His eyes light up when he predicts, with 90% accuracy, the nominees and winners of the Golden Globes and the Oscars. I'm not joking about that, he's scary good at that. My mother, who just got what I think is her dream job, working part-time as the head of the pharmacy at our local homeless shelter. She comes home and talks about how much she takes pride in her work and how, even though there would be challenges, she knew she was doing what she had always wanted to do and could see the impact she was making on the world. And then there's my friends, who, every so often, get on the topic of ethics or philosophy or television or theatre and simply cannot stop talking because they are so intrigued or in love with the subject.

Then after all that musing, I ask myself: "When do people see me talk about my passions? When do the lights of intrigue glow in my eyes?" I'm sure there is something, but it's either unexpected or slightly less tangible than music or pharmacy and I just can't put my finger on it. Which is why I hope the next few years of my life will be the best because it is my best chance for realizing what my passion is and finding a way to live and talk about that passion for the rest of my life.

Well, there ya go. A happy, hopeful blog post. That's a welcome change.
So my challenge to you is this: Listen to the people in your life, look for that spark in their eyes, find the fire within yourself and

Have a beautiful January 27th
(this went up on the 26th but it's almost midnight so it's not really worth it),
Colleen