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| Scenes from the park on a Tuesday night... |
Over the past week, I've felt a wave of end-of-summer melancholy begin to wash over me. The weather has been beautiful, but more "perfect September" than the scorching summer sun that I love. I've also noticed that sunset comes a few minutes earlier than I'm expecting each day and that all my upcoming weekend plans take me solidly into fall. Summer, it would seem, is winding itself down...
But last week, the most magical thing happened. As I was walking home, beautiful, actually... enchanting, guitar music found my ears. Living across the street from Washington Square Park, I'm fortunate to frequently encounter talented musicians of all types (the guy who wheels in his baby grand piano, the female singer under the arch, the drum circle in the southeast corner...) but this was something else. Sitting right at the corner entrance to the park was a younger gentleman playing frenzied, melodic, amazing guitar music. I stood and listened (along with several other passersby) before heading home. And here's the best part - after stepping into my apartment, I realized I could still hear the music loud and clear through the open windows of my apartment!!! It was like having a private concert outside my window.
Two days later, Dr. H and I were walking home from dinner and the guitarist was back. This time inside the park, an intimate crowd of listeners had gathered on the benches surrounding him. I told Dr. H, "this guy is incredible, we MUST stop" and so we did. On a cool summer's evening, we sat together on a bench in the park and just listened to beautiful music. We did it again on Friday with our niece and nephew who were equally enchanted (and eager to help with the dropping of a dollar into his guitar case!) And then there was last night, when Dr. H and I stood on the terrace together, just inhaling the sunset and listening to "our guitar guy". It almost feels like "guitar guy" came to the park to serenade the end of our summer personally, to make everything feel beautiful and magical and just right. I'm actually dreading the possibility that any day now he may move on to a new neighborhood and be gone forever.
Until that day however, I'm just trying to soak up his magic. I'm trying to remember that every year the beauty, pace and happiness of summer come and go, so I need to embrace every ounce of it while it's here. The fresh air, the smell after it rains, the sticky way the season attaches itself to your skin... as another summer begins to end, I'm going to remember to stop and smell the roses, or listen to the music, as the case may be:)
