Intending

    “Sometimes, you just have to put it out there and let the universe do the rest.”   Those words hung in the air a bit then and while my brain just couldn’t process them, my heart quickly absorbed them. I was listening to the counsel of my friend, film-maker Steven Robert McCurdy.  He had come to the East Coast to screen his film, ‘Postcards From Italy.’  Those of us who ventured out on that cold winter’s night were treated to Steve’s tender and heartfelt film homage to Southern Italy and her people.

 

    After the screening Steve and I caught up on the current events of our lives and I lamented the many stops and false starts in mine and how long it had been since I was in Italy.   That’s when he told me that many years  ago, he made the intention to go to Italy at least once per year and since then, it has always happened. “But how do you make the intention? How do you get it to work?” I asked, bewildered by the frustration of having tried everything.   I turned Steve’s words over and over and inside out in  my head and I made my intention.

 

    Days turned into weeks and then a  project in Sicily was proposed. I remembered my conversation with McCurdy and thought, “This is IT!”  There would be two more  projects proposed which would necessitate  trips to Sicily and not one of the three would materialize.  Seasons passed.  Towards the end of Summer, I started to think that after a healthy concert season, I should go to Sicily. With each day I felt an urgency that I had to be in Sicily in November. From one day to the next during October plans would change: I AM going; oh, no, I can’t; yes, I could!; ack, not going to happen.  This continued until a few days into November. Somehow everything lined up properly and next thing you know, I was back in Sicily. It was a trip filled with music and song, (stay tuned for future blog entries about it) so much so that even now in January, I am still processing all the memories and musical notes.   

 

     As the new year began, I wanted to wish McCurdy a great start to 2015 and I thought back to our discussion of intentions. It seemed so long ago. “Hmmm, when was he here in NYC? was it the end of 2011? 2012?..no , wait. When was that?”  I remembered how we goofed around at the screening, Steve and I, and made some pathetic attempts at selfies together so I scrolled through old facebook posts and found one of the photos. It was dated November 13th, 2013. I touched down in Sicily on November 12th, 2014...

 

    When I called Steve, I quickly wished him a Happy New Year and then reminded him of his advice. “ I don’t know WHAT, exactly you DID, but do it again!”    He replied, “Well, I’m pretty sure YOU did that yourself.”  With that, we made some intentions for future artistic projects...and oh, yes, Sicily will be a part of it all.


Here is a taste of Steve McCurdy's work: