Packing in the past

Fascinating and wondrous the things you find when packing: the program from a long ago Santa Fe Opera performace of Eugene Onegin; the front page of The New York Times from the morning of September 11, 2001--the early edition, before the attack; the score to Symphony for a Small City, which I commissioned for one of the bicentennial celebrations in Colorado; papers I had written while in College (was I ever really that bright?), tons of letters from friends who are still my friends and their voices lift from every envelope, and also a wonderful stack of poetry by Kathleen Cain. The latter of which I wish I could bring along with me. Those, and the most important memories I have accumulated will have to rest for a while. Those have been wrapped and sealed in plastic before they were boxed. With certain things, extra care and caution must be taken. I'm hoping that the vague unsettling notion lurking at the back of mind--that I'll never see these treasures again--is simply the uncertainty that is haunting my future as I pack, look forward, and look back.

I've shed a lot of flotsam--but nothing, nothing, from family and friends. I've drawings and letters from the childhood of my son, for instance, that could never be thrown away. These things, these gifts, from my son and my friends sing to me. They are, after all, those things that give harmony to my life. And then there are those things which are touchstones for certain times in my past--letters from the famous, my airline tickets to Paris, cards from when my sister was in Thailand--can be physically packed and stored, but they are always with me because they are my life.

The music to go and the music to store has been sorted out--unbelievably difficult task--and I hope I can make my way through the photographs without getting lost down too many memorable pathways. Yeah. That'll happen. When our porcine pals are lined up to lift off Runway Twelve.

The above-fold headlines from The New York Times the hours before the world changed: Nuclear Booty: More Smugglers Use Asia Route; In a Nation of Early Risers, Morning TV Is a Hot Market; Violence in Mideast Despite Plans to Talk; Scientists Urge Bigger Supply Of Stem Cells; Key Leaders Talk of Possible Deals To Reduce Taxes.

And the world spun on.