LIFE HAPPENS

Think back a moment to when you were a kid. Not all the way back, but middle school or high school when you think you have life scoped out. You pretty much assume that all adults don’t get it, talk too much without doing anything, and are no help to you at all. You likely also had a picture of what your grownup life would somewhat look like. Maybe not your career or location but you would be happy, have lots of cash, and being doing something that was fun all of the time. Everyone would think you are awesome and you would just go one day to the next until who knows? What a world view we all have when we’re kids. Then, as one of my favorite musicians of all time, John Lennon sang:

“Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans.”

-John Lennon, Beautiful Boy

I love that lyric. I remind my middle school students of this fact every time one of them tells me that they’re going to make the NBA, strike oil in their backyard or get paid fat stacks to play video games. I’m not sure they are old enough to actually get it but it’s coming out of my mouth either way. So, raise your hand now if your life didn’t turn out the way you thought it would when you were a teenager. Wait, that’s dumb…I can’t see you. Put your hands down. Side note, I also say to my classes: “Raise your hand if you’re absent.” Got that one from a dear colleague (thanks Jay Cullen!). The best part is that some kids actually raise their hands…but I digress.

I had two plans: ONE…become my RedSox hero Jim Rice and play left field at Fenway Park. TWO:…become a monster drummer, tour the world and be on MTV. (It was the 80’s guys…MTV was a thing). Good plans right? Fenway, drummer, tour, MTV. Before you are done laughing, here’s the awesome part. I have accomplished 2 out of the 4. Diligently studying percussion for almost 40 years with some amazing teachers such as Al LaFlamme, Jim Lattini, Jeff Fischer, and Fred Buda, as well as immersing myself in the art of all things music in college, playing gigs in rock bands, jazz ensembles and various percussion groups helped me hone my craft. It helps to surround oneself with friends that play at a high level and love it as much as you do. These guys and I share a deep life bond that is easily recognized by anyone who is an artist. Jim Felker, Jim Morris, Mike Verrette, Joe Prideaux, Mike Newman, John Mediros, Chris DeChiara, and the list goes on. All these great players that I call my friends. It’s been amazing to watch everyone’s career and anytime I see these guys, we still sing drum licks to each other, and talk about music. I’m glad that growing up guides you to find like-minded humans to share a passion with. Life is what happened there. Monster drummer? CHECK.

The second one I never saw coming, and I didn’t have to work as hard at it until it was put in front of me. Touring the world. In my youth, I assumed touring the world would be done from behind a drum kit, but as it has turned out….not so much. Instead I have gone all over the place BECAUSE I have Muscular Dystrophy.

You know me; I always look for some kind of silver lining. In 2007, a few years after I began volunteering with Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy, I was attending their annual Connect Conference. Held in Philadelphia that year, the founder and CEO Pat Furlong approached me with a wild idea: Go and tell your life story to an audience of patients, doctors and researchers….in Perth Australia. My trip (along with a caregiver to help me) would be covered by a sponsoring grant. Why me? PPMD thought I would make a good ambassador from the United States to educate others about living successfully as a disabled adult. Clearly they couldn’t find any “A listers”, so I got the call. It took a lot of planning and a little bribery as I had not yet met my wife. This meant my best friend Jim was my ask. He also is a high school band teacher, and had a wife and two small kids at home. I was about to ask him to miss almost 2 weeks of school and leave his family to go to the other side of the globe to help me on the plane, in the hotel, and anywhere else we needed to go. Smartly, I invited myself to his house to ASK HIS WIFE. Melanie was amazing and gave her blessing. I wrote a letter to Jim’s school district explaining what I had been asked to do and his school board, as did mine, gave him the time off. The whole trip is a story for another blog, but it was life changing. What I didn’t realize was that it was the first of many trips that PPMD has asked me to take since then. Here’s the full list, and although some trips didn’t pan out, THIS has been the most shiny silver lining I can think of about having MD. Life is indeed what happens while you’re busy making other plans. Let me conclude with another rock and roll lyric…this one by The Doors frontman Jim Morrison:

“Did you have a good world when you died? Enough to base a movie on?”

-Jim Morrison, The Movie

That’s what I’m going for. Maybe you should too…

Stay safe, stay awesome, and stay tuned.

THE LIST

• 2007 Perth, Australia Keynote Speaker, U. of Western Australia Muscle Society
• 2009 Brussels, Belgium Panel Speaker, Treat-NMD Annual Meeting
• 2010 Rio de Janeiro, Panel Speaker, Was not able to attend
• 2010 and 2011 Rome, Italy, Panel Speaker, European PPMD Conference
• 2011 Amsterdam, Netherlands, Treat-NMD Annual Meeting
• 2012 Tel-Aviv, Israel, Panel Speaker, Little Steps, Participated virtually (deemed not safe for travel as the time…which bummed me out)
• 2012 Geneva, Switzerland, Panel Speaker, Treat-NMD Annual Meeting. Was not able to attend
• 2013-2015 Possible trips to China and Romania but neither one materialized…yet haha.
• 2020 Barcelona, Spain and Rome Italy, European PPMD Conference. Was to take place in late February but was cancelled due to Covi-19 just getting started
• 2023 or 2024 The Moon. Ok That’s a joke, but if NASA needs to study muscle degeneration in space, I’m in. Do I ask my wife? I’m sure she could use the break…Jim, you’re up pal. Let’s take this up a notch. Literally.