Molasses

When someone or something moves slowly my cousin had a favorite saying - "It's like molasses moving uphill. In January." Quite often in dreams when I need to run I feel like I'm stuck in slow motion or molasses.

In music the drummer keeps the time, sets the pace, keeps the tempo steady as it were. When I first played in live bands we could get into a fantastic groove that flowed and time was liquid because, and this may come as a surprise, drummers do more than keep the time - they can push or pull the tempo to give the music a different feel. Usually we keep within certain bounds, but we can rush the beat slightly to give the music a sense of urgency. Or we can pull back the tempo slightly to change the feel of the piece.

Back when I was with London Bridge in Utah we had to play to a click track as the extra instruments and percussion were automated via Midi - and while we were the top dance band in the state and played huge shows I missed the fluidity of time and the freedom of pushing or pulling the beats because we were keeping PERFECT, computerized time. Most audiences will not realize this sense of time, but if you listen carefully you'll "feel" what I'm talking about when you hear music.

I'm wishing I could speed time even a little at this moment as you all know that Amy and I will be married next Saturday. But all my attempts to push the tempo, even slightly, are failing and I'm stuck in perfect time. UUUGGGGGHHHHH! So, rather than give in to time as it stands I'm finding all sorts of creative things to do.

- Played Risk for the first time with James today.
- Made my first blog entry in a month (you're reading it).
- Cleaned a closet. (Remember, I'm a guy and proud of it.)
- Cleaned ALL the laundry in the house. (Until today, now it's piling up already.)
- Got the kids all packed for our trip to Utah on Wednesday.
- Accomplished everything on my task list on Saturday and that hasn't happened EVER.

You get the point. Time is my enemy as it's the only thing standing between me and Miss Amy H. But there's no getting around it. Time stands still when Amy's not around and it rushes by like the wind when we're together.

However, Time has also been a friend I suppose. We've had time to get to know each other a bit more over the last four weeks and in ways that are very deep and poignant. And time has deepened our love and increased my love for Amy. She is (for lack of a better adjective) amazing. Even the children are begging for the time to pass more quickly. Isn't that wonderful?

So, as with listening to music, Time's tempo seems to be rushed at times and pulled back at others, yet we all know that it's pace is steady.

For more on time listen to Rush's song, Time Stand Still off of the Hold Your Fire album from 1987.

Well, that's it for now as I'm out of Time.

Sincerely,

Mike