Right around the time Miles was born we installed doors on John’s studio. (I think it was supposed to be a dining room, so no doors were installed.) We knew ahead of time that our child would be drawn to that room full of cables, knobs, and many more fascinating things to a little boy. In actuality, as we prepared for Miles we imagined a screaming baby would be very distracting to John as he worked from home. Honestly, I can say with 100% accuracy that John is bothered much more by me barging in to bug him randomly throughout the day than he has ever been by Miles’ crying. (I’m AWFUL at leaving him alone to work and then I get super annoyed when he bugs me when I’m working. I’m seriously the biggest brat ever.) Annnnnnyway, John’s studio is, by far, Miles’ favorite room and he BOLTS for it if the door is left open. Well, on this day, Miles and I came in to bug John and we let him explore just a bit. (We have to be careful, Miles can do damage to computers pretty quickly. Remember the missing shift key from my laptop?)

His FAVORITE thing that he always goes for first are the headphones with the spiral cord.

oh, what’s that I see?

The knobs on the mixing board!

Sweet!

This blog reminds me that John needs a new set of headphones. Studio gear is like buying car parts. It’s ALWAYS expensive. John and I unfortunately both have passions that need expensive equipment and software. It’s too bad we couldn’t be amazing mud sculptors or something. Oh well, the thing about us is we are always excited about our next purchase, like little kids always pining away for Christmas or something. It keeps life exciting.

So am I the only one wondering if Miles will be a music nut like his daddy? Oh, we hope so. John says he doesn’t care but who is he kidding!? I have this secret plan to have John teach Miles his MIDI Mock up stuff he does when Miles is super young and by the age of like 12 when other kids are mowing lawns for cash, he’ll be whipping out MIDI mock ups for daddy and John can focus on composing. It will be a Metta Audio empire! (Insert maniacal laugh here.) Ok, that probably made NO sense. Let me shed some light on one of the many things John does. MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) mock ups are taking a composers work and creating a super realistic recording of it on the computer so they can sell it. There aren’t a lot of other people doing that out there in his industry so John does a lot of that kind of work and he’s really good at it. But, of course, he really likes to work on his own original pieces too.) So that’s why I’m always joking to John that we need to teach Miles how to make MIDI mock ups as soon as he can. Of course, Miles will be into what he’s into, though I can’t imagine Miles wouldn’t be interested with all the cool stuff John has to “play” with. I’m wondering how soon we’ll be setting Miles up with a little keyboard and headphones of his own right next to Daddy’s. That might have to wait for the next house though. His studio is cramped enough as it is.

So I can’t sign off without remembering my sister tonight. I haven’t spoken much about her on my blog because grief isn’t a fun thing to read about. My blog helps me focus on the goofy stuff in life and that helps me through. However, yesterday, March 6th, would have been her birthday. She would have been 39. That first birthday after you lose someone really, for lack of a better word, sucks. A birthday is supposed to be about looking back on the last year and giving thanks for all the wonderful things, which we most definitely have done. It’s also about looking forward and making wishes for the next year. So it was hard. However, we gathered with some of her closest family and friends tonight and looking around the room at all the people that love her and miss her helped. It reminded me of the love that remains.

As I flipped through the photos I have to share of Penny, I always go back to the ones of us as kids. If you have a sibling you even might agree that those times were so pure and so simple. Going back to those times helps me feel like I had a longer time with her too.

Ok, I’m shushing. Take care and happy Friday. Tonight is the Museum of Art’s gala so I’m going to need my beauty rest if I expect to pull off a strapless dress, big girl heels and earrings the size of my head. (Too bad it’s so early in the year, I just might get the urge to crash a prom in my fancy get up.)