He Must Be Stopped...

As if graduating from High School 2 years early and being an amazing musician is not enough for my son, he calls me today and tells me that he scored a "5" on the AP Calculus test. "5" as in, the top score you can get. This child is far too intelligent and continues to show up his old father. We must stop him before he conquers the world.

Actually, this is another sign that this child has a destiny far greater than his old father's. He told his mother "At the beginning of the year I knew I had to pass three tests to get where I wanted to go: The Driving test, the High School Proficiency, and the AP Calculus test. And I've passed all three now." I might add, he passed all three on the first try.

I think back, of course, to those unimaginative teachers he had in elementary school who kept telling me that the boy would never amount to anything unless I put him on the ADHD medication. We didn't. We worked with him to teach him how to control his ADHD and then to use it to his advantage--there are advantages to his form, such as hyperfocus. I'd say the lad has passed that particular test with distinction. I only wish I could go back to some of these fools and rub it in their collective faces.

As for myself, I envy the lad in having goals and achieving them. I'm struggling to keep myself involved in the practice--worrying every night whether there will be enough work and money to get through the month (there always seems to be so, and I have some money in reserve in case there's a bad month). I guess it's like the old joke about the man who jumped off the top of the Empire State Building and, as he passes each floor he looks in the window and says to the people staring, "I'm okay so far!"

I'm okay so far.

The good news is that my friend Mike McLaren, an excellent slide guitar player and well known local musician, asked me tonight to work with him for a few months on some of the gigs he's doing in Sept and Oct. He said we'd even do some of my songs. He likes my harmonica playing--the fact that I don't step on the singer or the solo guitar and then can throw a few little licks myself. "I'm not going to do all these gigs alone," he said. He's even offered to teach me to play a little banjo. Woo hoo. Another loud instrument to bother the neighbors with.

(Yes, a few nights ago I took my guitar and sat on the back porch playing a few tunes. After about 20 minutes the neighbor said, "Mark, it sounds good but we're tying to get some sleep because we have to get up in the morning." Not exactly a standing ovation.)

Listen, I was put on this earth to do something. I'm not sure it's lawyering, though when I help someone who otherwise would have had no help, I think otherwise. Who knows. I'm asking for a sign here, Lord. It doesn't have to be a burning bush. Just something that even someone as dense as me can understand.