Surprises and Endings

Columbus Day weekend has become synonymous with freedom for me. I’m not going to give up my music any time soon, but by the time October rolls around I start to get tired of playing parades and feasts with various bands every weekend, and some weekdays. I’ve had some invitations to join more bands, but I’m at my limit now and most of those groups don’t pay. A lot of our rationale in accepting jobs is that we’re not doing anything anyway, but it’s still nice to have some compensation for our time. Once Columbus Day passes, I can usually put the instrument away for the Winter and not give it a second thought until St. Patrick’s Day in March.

October has always brought a minimum of two parades and a maximum of four. This year, a parade in the city on Monday “fell troo” in the words of one band leader, just as well as I didn’t mind playing only two days in a row instead of three. The band we’ll play with on Sunday is local, run by the son of my late mentor and music teacher. The one we did in Queens on Saturday with our Brooklyn-based Italian band was considerably more taxing. Once we got past an accident and some construction, driving was smooth until our exit ramp where it took twenty minutes to move and many people made their own lane and cheated by cutting over at the last second.

I knew my dad would want to run, despite his dizzy spells the day prior. We found a parking spot around the center of the parade route, so we’d have a shorter walk back when it was over. I called our band leader’s son on my cell phone to let him know we were on the way, so his dad wouldn’t panic and mine wouldn’t rush. At the assembly area, the son had a big smile on his face as he shared some good news. “4:16 on Friday morning, I became the father of a beautiful baby girl!” he boasted.

I was in the middle of congratulating him when I had to stop and ask him to repeat the gender. His fiancée had a sonogram months ago and determined that a boy was on the way. They’d been planning accordingly, and thus it was a surprise when his mom came out of the delivery room and told him what his girlfriend had given birth to instead. I joked that perhaps the doctor had originally been looking at the umbilical cord, but that seemed to go over his head. The reference, that is...

Though sixteen days early, another surprise, the baby was in perfect health. They named the girl after his deceased sister, which was sweet. I congratulated our band leader on being a grandfather, and he sounded exhausted when he thanked me. At this point, his son gathered us around to ask what we were doing at the end of November. It seems they may be getting back a holiday parade that we had a few years back. On the one hand, I was looking forward to this weekend being the end of the season. On the other, a job is a job, even if it doesn’t pay that well. As I recall, it was a short parade with a long wait in the cold, and we were somewhat disappointed with our compensation on the two or three occasions we had that gig. My dad told him he probably wouldn’t play that one, though he might come along for the ride to keep me company. If it’s too cold for him to play though, I’d just as soon leave him home as have him standing on the sidewalk.

Saturday brought its share of surprises. It was also a reminder that there are no definitive endings in life, that what we perceive as endings are merely breaks before cycles begin anew. I’m looking forward to my next break right now, but who knows what surprises may be in store.