Ode to Joy

Joy is a full-body experience. It cannot be experienced with the mind alone. Joy is not the snicker. Joy is the belly laugh. Joy is the sensation that pleasures your brain, your heart and your gut simultaneously. When joy is in full-swing, it pleasures your Soul.

When you commit to welcoming joy into your life, it can show up in a moments notice. It can arrive in your mailbox. It can walk through your door. Last Thursday, it marched up my street.

I had been home for 5 minutes when I heard them. The drums. The whistles. The trumpets and tubas. I knew instantly it was the Akron Highschool Marching Band. One of the very best highschool marching bands in all of New York State. I heard them draw closer. Suddenly, I realized they were turning up my street. My full-bodied joy began to take hold.

I started darting from room to room, searching for my digital camera, jamming shoes on feet, scaring the cats with my excited "oh, oh, oh!". I ran out the door just as the band came into view.

Even without their starch white uniforms trimmed in orange and black, this band is outstanding. Focused. Tight. I was the only one on my street to show up for the personal parade. But my enthusiasm and joy filled the neighborhood to the same extent as the drums. At least it felt like that to me. The crisp, marching rhythm and rhyme of those talented teenagers engaged my brain, my heart and my gut. On a moments notice, those talented teenagers became my ode to joy.