Far, Far Away.................

My younger brother came to visit and to meet his niece this weekend. It was a great time.

The timing of his visit, however, was not as we had planned. You see, my younger brother is a professional trumpet player. He has wanted to play in an orchestra since he was smaller then the trumpet. He went to college and grad school, all to learn how to be an orchestral trumpeter.

Now all that dedication has paid off. After a summer as a fellow at Tanglewood in Massachusetts, he landed a gig as the Principal Trumpet for the Beijing Symphony. Yup....the one in China....yup....halfway around the world. They want him there in a couple of weeks. Insanity.

I'm proud of the lad....he always had a focus that I never did. I'm never happy unless I've got 30,000 different tasks going at once. For him, it was always that trumpet.

That said, it was tough to say goodbye. Hopefully, he'll make it home for Christmas.

He and I weren't close as kids. The seven years of age difference made that hard. Over the past few years though, as I grew out of being a self-righteous prick and he matured into a pleasant human being, we've grown much closer. I'll miss him.

Good Luck, Zebediah. I know you'll blow them away. I'll save my pennies for a trip to Beijing to see you play. I wouldn't miss it for the world.

Oh, and I promise I won't set your hair on fire.