Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss

Seems like flying around is what we all do these days- life is so busy! Generally speaking, most of us fill our days with worthwhile activities, and that makes it difficult to decide what to NOT do- so we end up trying to do it all. Sometimes we manage to drop something that we think we can live without for a little while in an effort to manage our time better, and to put more quality attention into the "A" list. This tactic has worked pretty well for me; I've put a few activities on the back burner, and a few more have just gotten stored away indefinitely. Playing the fiddle, while an "A" interest, has assumed a "B" list role simply for lack of available time for regular practice. The best I can manage is to play it for a few minutes now and then.
Last night Kathie and I played tunes at a barn dance that Richard called. I'd been apprehensive about it, managed a little bit of practice but not as much as I would have liked (studying for tests this week won my time and attention) but all those hours of practice in the past paid off! We played from our list of "standard" tunes- the ones we know without music- and we had so much fun! I mean, all of us had so much fun! The parents and children who were dancing, Richard who was calling, and Kathie and I. It was one of those evenings that flew by and before we knew it, we were done.
It's nice to know that this piece of my life- music and contradance- has become so ingrained that it still threads through the rest of my activities. Listening to contra tunes while I practice calling during my commute keeps the music in my head and the beat in my heart, enough so that when I pick up my fiddle, that energy can revive my fingers and the music can flow through the strings and the bow.
In the back of my mind, I've thought it would be possible to call and play at dances on weekend evenings while packing my week days full of work and classes, my week evenings with studying and time with Richard, and weekends filling in with chores, visiting the kids & grandkids, and more studying. Possible to do it all, but not sure I could really pull it off. Some weeks I'm not sure I've managed well, but last night was an indicator that it is possible!