This blog is dedicated to my sister, Christa, and my brother-in-law, Jerry, who are celebrating their tenth wedding anniversary today (13 August 2015). Time really does fly! I have been fascinated with the concept of time for years. As a high school student, physics was my favorite branch of science. I liked biology as well from a theoretical standpoint, however, I was never a fan of dissection and am terrified of needles or other invasive procedures. I suppose that is the reason I am drawn to Reiki and Tong Ren. Both types of treatments can be administered at a distance, and the healing benefits one experiences from both modalities can be explained by physical law and faith! Chapter one of my book is devoted to my fascination with time – chronological time and eternity – chronos and kairos, while chapter two deals with hands-on healing and other alternative methods.

As a musician, I have been blessed with some amazing performance opportunities in which I have experienced the phenomenon of “going into the zone” while completely absorbed in the music. My sense of tracking time was temporarily suspended while I blissfully created music with the gifted artists with whom I worked. I can only describe the feeling as completely connecting with the divine, and it was always my silver flute that provided such a precious tool to do so. Those moments in time sparked my interest in philosophy and physics, and, after many years of reading some heavy material written by scientists, I discovered a book that helped me to understand what I felt intuitively. That book was Everything Forever by Gevin Giorbran. His book offered simple explanations of the manner in which time overlaps – how past, present and future occur simultaneously. St. Augustine believed this as well, and Thomas Aquinas exclaimed, “Eternity is the “now” of time.” “Now” can be as short as a second, or, from a philosophical perspective, it can be measured from activity to activity. As a person who has loved math and the symbolic aspect of numbers for years, I receive great satisfaction from teaching the mathematics of music or music theory. My favorite mathematical symbol is the infinity symbol. It is a reminder to me that chronological time is important for our evolution, but it is not the end of our journey. Everything meaningful overlaps in the “now,” and we are products of that “now.”

I believe in divine right timing, or, what Carl Jung referred to as synchronicity and Squire Rushnell referred to as “God winks.” Nothing is simply a coincidence, which leads me to the events that lined up in perfect order for me this week. At the Art Institute of Philadelphia, we are in our fifth week of the summer term, so it is midterm week. I have the pleasure of lecturing on Beethoven and his music – one of my favorite composers. I adore his music aesthetically, and from a human standpoint, I can appreciate his triumph over adversity. I discuss music that has made its way into popular culture so the students can better identify with it. We listen to Fur Elise, the first movement of the fifth symphony and the final movement of the ninth symphony. My earliest recollection of Fur Elise was from A Charlie Brown Christmas. Schroeder and Lucy are sitting at the piano, and Schroeder is playing Fur Elise. Lucy asks him, “What kind of Christmas music is that?” to which he responds, “It’s Beethoven Christmas music.” I have loved Peanuts for decades and have several volumes of comic strips and a collection of DVD’s. I always believed that Schultz’s favorite composer was Beethoven, however, when I read his biography, I discovered his favorite was Brahms. Because of his love of Beethoven as well, he decided to make Beethoven Schroeder’s favorite composer. This year marks the 50^th anniversary of A Charlie Brown Christmas and the 65^th anniversary of Snoopy. Snoopy’s alter ego Joe Cool has always been close to my heart because my father and brother are both named Joe, and they are two of the coolest dudes I know!

Fur Elise and the fifth symphony are products of Beethoven’s second time period (1802 – 1816) where he triumphs over adversity. It is during this time that his hearing loss progresses to the point that after 1816 he cannot hear anything at all. In 1802, he accepts the inevitability of complete deafness and retreats to Heiligenstadt, Germany and pens the Heiligenstadt testament – a letter expressing his despair over his hearing loss and in which he contemplates suicide. He speaks of being afraid to “admit an infirmity in the one sense that ought to be more perfect in me than in others” and that a “hot terror” comes upon him as he approaches near to people because they could not possibly discover his condition. He is humiliated when he can’t hear a flute in the distance or a shepherd singing and remarks that “these incidents almost drove me to despair; a little more of that, and I would have ended my life – it was only my art that held me back.” He decides to endure his “wretched existence” so he can “seize fate by the throat and pour forth all that is within him.” He exclaims that God knows his heart and therein dwells “the love of mankind and the desire to do good.” He addresses future readers of his letter by saying that anyone with a similar affliction may “console himself to find a similar case to his, who despite all the limitations of Nature nevertheless did everything within his powers to become accepted among worthy artists and men.” In other words, he gives people facing insurmountable odds hope in triumphing over adversity. His fifth symphony is a symbol of his triumph over adversity. It is written in four movements, with the first being in the key of C minor and the last being in the parallel C major. By moving from the darker first movement to the brighter, celebratory final movement in the major mode, it literally sounds like triumph over adversity. The brass instruments are bigger than life at the opening of this final movement to usher in the dramatic character change with majesty. The short-short-short long symbol for Victory in Morse code mirrors the famous 4 note short-short-short-long motif of the first movement. Disco aficionados know this first movement on account of the Walter Murphy tune A Fifth of Beethoven popularized in Saturday Night Fever – Travolta at his very best! The disco version appears in an episode of Family Guy as well.

The ninth symphony is subtitled “Choral” because of the addition of SATB voices and full choir, which appear in the final movement and sing the famous Ode to Joy melody. At this point in time Beethoven’s philosophy of life was: “Let joy bring everyone together: all men will be brothers; let all kneel before God.” The 72 minute final symphony was premiered in 1824, and Beethoven was profoundly deaf. In fact, the final eleven years of his life were lived in complete silence. The man who had been the finest pianist of his era could no longer perform in public, could no longer teach or even conduct the premier of his final symphony. He could only notate on paper the music he heard in his head. I was watching a documentary about the life of Beethoven narrated by Simon Callow who mentioned that Beethoven had every reason to believe that fate had been conspiring against him. A man who had given so many people such beautiful music to listen to was slowly being robbed of the ability to hear it himself. He further stressed that no other composer was so profoundly gifted at expressing joy, with the final movement of the final symphony being an ode to joy. I find enormous inspiration in Beethoven’s ability to triumph over adversity and express joy!

This now brings me to my sister, who is celebrating her tenth wedding anniversary today and whose story I shared in chapter two of my book on healing and miracles. Christa was diagnosed with leukemia in October 1979 and endured five years of allopathic treatment as well as alternative therapies. She almost died three times, so my family joyfully celebrated every milestone in her life, especially high school and college graduations! The most emotional celebration of joy was her engagement and subsequent wedding. She had two showers and a lingerie party. I coordinated my gifts for the two showers and her wedding and wrote letters to go along with everything I presented her. Christa is one of the earth angels who have graced my life and have made me a better person, so I gave her a Willow Tree angel holding a heart and one angel with her arms crossed over her heart, which is the symbol for love in sign language. I like Susan Lordi’s Willow Tree angels because they are faceless, so they can represent anyone who walks into one’s life, or they can wear that special person’s face so to speak. The “sign of love angel” with arms crossed over the heart for me represents the infinity symbol because it looks like the figure eight across the chest. It is my symbol for eternal love and commitment. The angel holding the heart represents the fact that our hands are instruments of love. We extend our hand when meeting someone new or when we seal a deal. We lend a helping hand in times of need, and when we hear beautiful music or see beautiful works of art we claim we are “touched.” After I gave Christa this angel at her first shower, Jerry’s mother announced she had ordered smaller versions of the same figure as favors for the second shower. We were on the same wavelength! For the wedding, I gifted them with the statue of a couple in the shape of the infinity symbol. Christa referred to her union with Jerry as the “infinity union” because Jerry’s birthday is 8 May, Christa was 28 when they got married and they were married in the eighth month.

Christa and Jerry’s wedding was the most beautiful and most emotionally touching I ever experienced. Christa exuded a joy I had never seen before. A happier bride just did not exist! Her wedding was the most emotional day of my life. I literally watched my dad give away his heart and the heart of our family. I pulled double duty as maid-of-honor and the flutist who played the Bach/Gounod Ave Maria and O Mio Babbino Caro. I don’t know how I held back the tears to play my silver pipe! The reception was just as emotional for me, especially when they played the video they created themselves. I have posted this video on my Facebook page. It reminds me of the uncertainty of our younger years, the joy we experienced in the face of overwhelming obstacles and the lessons I learned to never ever take anyone or anything for granted. Christa, you are and have always been my inspiration. You have triumphed and continue to do so with your amazing husband! Happy Anniversary little sis and favorite brother-in-law!!! May your love endure to infinity and beyond! I love you guys!!!