the power of now

Last week I was reminded of the power of a moment as well as the power of nostalgia. I had the opportunity to see a band play that I've been following for 18 years now - crazy huh?! Carbon Leaf, based out of Richmond VA, came into my life via my high school friend who was their original drummer back in the late 1990s. And once I moved to New York and they kept playing I was determined to put them on the map on the NYC music scene circa year 2000 - before we had social media to do all of the heavy lifting. So I walked the cold streets of Manhattan stapling posters to telephone poles and begged and pleaded with co-workers and friends to come see them promising a good show (how many times have you heard - "you must see this band, they are really good" and you learn "good" is quite subjective). I would book their shows, sell their merch, handle the money from the door for any of their NYC shows. Heck, I even made myself a business card giving myself the title of Regional Manager (at that point my mom was so petrified I would leave behind my growing career in advertising to be a road manager with them :) It was a lot of fun -- lots of awesome memories.

Now all these years later and about 8 albums richer the guys are still playing with 3 of the original 5 guys still in tact. And they are still touring the country...this time making it all the way to the west coast, after not having been for two years. Needless to say I was thrilled to reconnect, hear their latest music and just give a bunch of hugs to some guys who have grown to be near and dear to my heart after all these years.

So after a fantastic show at an intimate space in Hollywood called the Hotel Cafe I just couldn't get enough. So come Tuesday afternoon as I'm wrapping up my to-dos and realizing I have the rest of the day/night free I decided to embrace my new mantra of fun and drive down to San Diego; why not make it a Carbon Leaf double header?! And so I did. Rocking out on the way down to all of my favorite tunes while listening to their new songs and sporting my new Jump in or Fall tour tee-shirt I drove south. Not only did I get there in time to grab some tacos with the guys and catch up pre show but I also got to catch the opening act, a LA musician who knows the bass player of Carbon Leaf so they invited him to open the LA and SD show -- Marcus Eaton. He put on a great opening set and afterwards I got to chat w/ him for a bit too. Through conversation he shared with me his latest mantra of telling himself each day that he's exactly where he's suppose to be when he's suppose to be there and how powerful that's been for him with lots of great things coming out of it. In that moment I realized I was exactly where I was suppose to be when I was suppose to -- meeting this great guy who's CD I now love, spending time with a band who's been so inspiring to me through the years and singing and dancing my butt off during the entire set (and drive home to LA) -- living life like no one was watching.

I was in the moment, I felt the power of being present, and I loved every single second of it.