Cadre Today: The Joy Of Remembering

Hey. Hey, Cadre. How are we doing today? How we doing? We good? I'll play in as normally I have my Spotify going, but I'll play in on the piano today. It's Friday. Hey, Maffy, how are you? Bs of it. Nice to see y' all. Marisa, nice to see you, my friend. How are we doing on this Friday? Hey. I am glad that I'm here. Jules T. North. I'm glad you are here. I know what I know and I care about you. On this day, on every day, all those things are the magic that make the Cadre sphere happen. As this month in the Cadre sphere, we're focusing on this idea of balance.

I am leaning into the fact that I've been in the midst of one of my worlds super heavy this week, and that is this alive and kicking world. Alive and Kicking is Minnesota's premier senior rock ensemble where we use rock music to knock down barriers and perceptions on what it means to age. And then I thought about all my live streams this week, and they've all been kind of in the sphere of alive and kicking stories, because guess what? To everything there's a season for right now I'm leaning into.

And then guess what's probably going to happen next week? I'm going to lean out of or lean towards something else. So that's to say, I got one more alive and kicking story for you today on Fridays. So often the live streams are around the ideas of grief and loss, as two of my favorite people say. Kelly Groscogs says grief is the evidence of love, and that even though grief exists for a chapter of our lives, no matter who we are, love is something that exists for all of our lives and well beyond that.

Then my friend Norm McInerney says that grief is not something we move through, but something we move forward with. So today I want to tell you about my friend Bruce. Bruce was in Alive and Kicking the first year that I was a part of the organization, and Bruce was just this. He is who he is. Incredibly caring, incredibly thoughtful, great sense of humor, but also it doesn't give two licks if someone doesn't like him. He is who he is. And I'm not a very funny human being, but I throw out thoughts that come to my mind that I find to be joyful and humorous.

And then I always, normally afterwards, I'm like. And that was. That was my. My one joke for the day. So Bruce would start. Anytime he had sensed that I was doing my joke, he'd go like this and then throughout the day, if there would be more than one, he'd go and he'd count all of my attempts at being funny. Bruce has passed on. He's been out of his. His living chapter for a little over a year, I think. But now other members in the group carry on Bruce's naming of my attempts at funniness, and it's, hey, speak, wonder.

Nice to see you. And so in this week, where we have a lot going on, the amount of times Bruce gets brought up in conversation is numerous because we're spending lots of time together and you get tired and you get all the feels and so on and so forth. And it's funny every time Bruce's name gets brought up, people who know, who have memories of Bruce, they all chuckle and they all laugh, and all of a sudden, Bruce goes from being in the past to being in the present. And throughout the week, people are waiting for when the next Bruce moment's going to happen.

And that's one of those weird things about grief, right? If we think of it in a binary way, and, you know, I'm not a big binary thinker, that it's this or that, I'm always. Everything is one of a million potential placements on that spectrum. You know, as Nora says, grief is not something we move on from, but it's something we move forward with. And that grief shows up in lots of ways. Another story from my friend Ruth, who two years ago in the show sang the song this Is Me from Greatest Showman.

Ruth has now passed on, and our member Deb is singing the song this Is Me this year. And I'm sitting at the piano again, and I see Deb down there. And kid you not, I saw Ruth like in my brain. My brain fired images of Ruth standing on that same stage two years ago singing the same song in a very different way. In that moment, the grief smacked me all ugly on that same stage, sitting at that same piano bench. From humor and laughter to sadness, grief brings lots of different passengers with it. Happiness, joy, sadness, fatigue, anger.

Yada, yada, yada, yada, yada, yada. So no matter what accompanies your grief today, experience it. Why? Because you don't have a choice. Take it in. Let it do its deal. Because remember, not only is balance a verb, but so is life. So the opening of our show this year is the first song Metal Ivan Kickin sang at its first concert 14 years ago. So sing a little. Let it be with me. Hey. When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me Speaking words of wisdom Let it be in my out of darkness she is standing right in front of me Speaking words of wisdom Let it be let it be let it be let it be let it be Whisper words of wisdom Let it be Awesome.

T North. Hey, if you come to the show on Sunday, wait out in the lobby after the show and I'll come out and say hey, just, just wave me down. Hey, smz Bob's. Happy Friday. Nice to see you too. Y' all have a great weekend. If you are in the twin cities again, we have our community sound bath, community walk, coffee conversation happening in St. Anthony, Maine in Minneapolis on Sunday morning. So go ahead and join us if you're in town and speak. Wonder what a perfect example of feeling the feels that are there to be felt.

Have a great day everybody. We'll see you tomorrow.