Whenever my week gets hectic or I feel like I’m too busy, I just think about my 78-year-old grandfather, and I realize that I don’t know what busy is. Case in point, he wanted me to show him something on his computer a few days ago (he’s a Mac guy), and when I said I could probably stop by in the afternoon, he had to cancel on me because he forgot he had an important meeting.
My grandfather has had careers as a professional trombonist for the New Orleans Symphony, the director of a military band, a tenured professor of musicology (the scientific study of music), the conductor of a baroque music group, and he is a respected authority on harpsichords and harpsichord building. (He literally wrote the book on the history of the harpsichord.) Seriously, the guy is amazing.
What’s more amazing though, is his schedule at 78 years old. My grandfather currently works out six days a week and bicycles about 100 miles per week (weather permitting). In the last two years he has conducted orchestras for four theater musicals, and he will conduct three more in the next year (he has so many requests to conduct that he turns down more offers than he accepts). Just this past year he picked up the trombone after fifty years, and he now practices an hour a day, performs in a trio and quintet, and has two duet partners. He also continues to attend musicology conferences, review scholarly books, build and repair harpsichords, and he is a consultant to a major harpsichord company in the US (yes, they exist!).
If this weren’t enough, he completed his first novel last year and has been shopping it around to agents (he has written and published six books prior this, but this is his first fiction work).
So, what have you been up to recently? Still feel tired or burnt out? I didn’t think so!
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Your grandfather puts me to shame, Drew (and a few others, I’d guess!). When I grow up, I hope I can be half as cool as he is
Wow. That is impressive I wish I was that accomplished and still doing those kind of things. He will probably have another 10-20 years ahead of him at this rate. He is doing the right things that should keep him healthy. Good for him. He is definitely motivational.
Ha! I just got an email from my grandpa about this post. Here’s what he wrote:
“Reminds me of the story of the centipede who was asked, ‘how can you walk with 100 legs?’ The centipede found that when he thought about it he got so confused he couldn’t walk at all. After reading this post, all I want to do is lie down and take a nap!”
Drew, thank you for sharing your grandfather with us. He sounds like a remarkable guy.