The video above is a few moments of listening to the noon playing of the carillon inside the Kirk in the Hills Church in Bloomfield Hills, MI. It's the church Alex and I were married in and in a moment of running around the Detroit metro area, I wanted a moment to step inside and just surrender and be still with the sound of the bells. The week before Christmas can be such a hustle of activity that we often forget to just take a moment and be at peace in stillness.
This holiday week was one of endings and new beginnings for several of my family members. For my mom, we celebrated her retirement from being the director of the Cromaine Library after 12 years of innovating the library services, programs, and updating the space for the community. She has been largely recognized in the community, and will be venturing out on her own adventure year soon in order to remember who she is when she's not playing the role of the community library director. You'll definitely see her appearing multiple times on my blog and in my instagram feed in the year ahead because she's invited me to join her on a lot of her travels!! Apparently I make for a good travel companion, and thankfully, we enjoy spending time together. ;-)
As for new beginnings, my brother-in-law recently became engaged, a board certified cardiologist, and a fellow at the Cleveland Clinic! We headed into Cleveland to see the fantastic view from his new apartment, explore downtown Cleveland's night life, and enjoy an afternoon of music at Severance Hall.
Something that was a first for us this year was participating in the Akron Tuba Christmas at the University of Akron! This was quite an event with over 500 low brass instrumentalists on stage!! Since Alex plays french horn and his brother plays trombone, they took a shot at getting as many notes as they could on euphoniums that they borrowed for the event. If you have not heard of this or attended, it was highly entertaining and I'd definitely recommend making it part of your holiday traditions- even if you aren't a low-brass player or enthusiast. It was just a fun family community music event with plenty of opportunities for the audience to sing-along. Scroll through the videos and images to hear and see more!
In one last Auntie-Anne and Uncle-Alex move in Michigan, we treated our nephews to a fun afternoon and evening exploring all of the holiday events and activities in downtown Detroit, which was a first for them during the holidays.
And as I consider my own endings and beginnings this year, I take to heart the words of Emma Goldman and Ari Weinzweig, who both sought to challenge the norms by thinking freely and shaking up the processes that other people assumed were the only way.