Last week, I had a lovely, fulfilling stretch of days! And then… I got sick. But the mandated rest that comes with being ill for a bit often feels like a reset to me. This time around, I’m doing my best to calm myself and not try to bounce back too forcefully and too quickly. And I’m reflecting on what made those good days so good.
For one, I was working on my music! It’s been an arduous stop-and-start process for two and a half years attempting to work on a single song and get it out to ears other than those of my former producers and myself. Now, it is finally happening, and it is so heartening. And what reinforced that feeling even more is the wonderful show I saw not long after I completed my first session with my new producer (shoutout Michelle!).
The Bengsons have been a favorite of mine since I saw their second autobiographical show The Lucky Ones in 2018. While we are still anxiously awaiting an album of this stunning production, I encourage you to look up and consume whatever you can of it, and the rest of their works. This husband and wife duo are–obviously–incredible musicians, but more prominently and I think more importantly, incredible people. Seeing them perform always makes me feel like I am attending my own personal version of secular church, with them as the gentle leaders who only ask that you be present with them and the rest of the humans in the room.
I’m afraid this post is not going to be too interesting because I cannot fully encapsulate the experience of being at one of their performances. It feels like a true community; a point further driven by the fact that my dear friend Mark was one of the ASL interpreters for the evening, and I got to watch him and The Bengsons alongside my other dear friend Erin. (Isn’t having dear friends great?)
I suppose if there’s any message I can relay to you from that night, it’s that you are okay. That the world continuously has amazing secrets to reveal to us. That love and forgiveness and anger and fear and regret and silliness and passion are all valid and precious and fleeting, as is life–in the most relieving way. Life is short, and life is long, as I like to say. And this show drove that home, which I can never seem to truly do for myself. The closest I can get to making you feel what I felt is listening to the song that is the title of this post. It’s one of my all-time favorites, and I think you’ll understand why once you listen (head over to the blog playlist for tunes). And if you can, go see The Bengsons’ show! If not now in New York, one of their pieces, someday, wherever you can. You deserve it.
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