Naming Mountains

Practice makes permanent.  Perfect practice makes perfect. – proverb

I had a piano teacher who liked to encourage me with that particular phrase.  He thought he was quoting Vince Lombardi and was very pleased with himself every time he said it.  For a while I thought perhaps he had things mixed up and believed Mr. Lombardi was the patron saint of disgruntled piano students.  This explains why I think about Green Bay when I work on scales.

Today was a difficult day.  We live close enough to Boston that everyone had someone close to them at the race yesterday.  Most of the people I work with grew up in the state.  Patriots’ Day is their holiday.  Boston is their city.  I watched people move through the day a little slower than usual.  The weight of the worry and sadness was everywhere.

And I watched how people treated each other.  The people who are regularly kind were still kind.  The people who are helpful continued to go out of their way to be so.  The people who are often mean were still mean, albeit a gentler mean than their everyday sort.  There were words and actions of habit – the result of all the practicing over all the years.

It was a good reminder.  What have I been practicing lately?  Practice makes permanent.

I knew that singing hymns would make me think of her.  I knew that being in church, looking up at the pulpit, would make me think of her.  The thing I was not expecting was that hearing scripture would make me hear it almost in stereo, her voice overlaying the voice of the reader in front of me.  So many memories.

Last week, I chose not to spend the thousand dollars-plus to rush back to Wisconsin for my friend’s memorial service.  There is a part of me that will always ache a little because I wasn’t there.  Over the next year or so, I want to use that thousand dollars to do several things that I hope will honor her.  This is the list so far:

• Purchase a State Park pass for Massachusetts and probably New York too.  My friend and her family loved the parks in Wisconsin (and many other places too).  I am happy to support my local parks in her memory.  It won’t hurt me to spend more time outside either!  Total cost: $100 covers both states.
• Plant a tree.  This one might be a little tricky as I own no property at the moment, but I’m confident I can figure it out.  Surely there is someone nearby in need of a tree or two.  The Berkshire Conservation District and the Berkshire Environmental Action Team both are active here.  They will be my first stops for more information.  Total cost: ?
• Do not purchase an engraved brass plaque or anything that requires such a thing.  This was a specific request in my friend’s self-penned obituary.  It will not be an issue.  Total cost: $0.00

It is a beginning.