Galen was non-verbal and unamused when he came into my group. He separated himself and tried to hide in a pew. All I saw was a lot of blond hair and fingertips. I went over, sat down next to him, asked his name, and told him I had a nephew with the same name. He began to lighten up, but was still dubious. I left him, went back to the circle and began with the shruti box. I almost never start a kids workshop with the shruti box, FYI. At the first sound of it, he sat bolt upright and was completely mesmerized. So taken with it was he that he asked fifty questions and spent most of the Explorer time (20 minutes) with it. I had to remind him to share, and he did, but somehow it always ended up back in his hands. At the end, he came up to me, shoved paper and pen into my hand, and said “I need you to write down the name of that and where I can get one!” www.shrutibox.com little brother. He thanked me and shook my hand in the rhythm of the final rhythm exercise we’d done (be still my beating heart). On the lunch line he found me again and said “Hey, Ana! Look at this!” This pic is our brains on music.

But wait! There’s more. As I was heading to the parking lot at the end of the day, wanting nothing but a cup of coffee to help me drive home without falling asleep, Galen came over and put his hand out to shake. When I took it he jumped up and down 15 times (I started counting out loud at nine) like a jumping bean. When he stopped, he said “That’s a nice way to greet someone at the gym.” Indeed.

Who has a better job than me? Not even God, people. Not. Even. God.