On looking back at the blog entries from this past year, of which I'm sad to report there are few of, I realized that I never came and blogged about quitting steel drums. Way back in March, I posted my last post about drumming, and made mention to how much time it was sucking out of my life, and that was it.
Sometime later in the spring.. in fact it was the weekend of the Made in NH Expo, when I couldn't go play because I had a migraine headache and the thought of playing 6 large bass drums made me want to curl up in a ball and cry.. I realized I needed to be done. It was taking up too much time, and I felt like I was having to choose between the kids and their activities, and rehearsals and gigs, and no matter what I choose, I felt like I was failing at something. I was also looking at having to work all summer, and try to fit in Steel Drums and couldn't figure when my family was going to ever see me. That is far too much stress for what started out as something "fun to do in my free time."
I do miss drumming. I miss the songs, and the people who I played with. I miss some of the gigs that we played at regularly which I always enjoyed. Right now we would be playing Christmas music, which was always my favorite part of the year. I do miss it. But I really don't miss how much time it took up. I like not having to rush home on Mondays and then rush through dinner so that the kids can get to Jazz band. I like that on Wed. afternoons in the spring and fall, I can go hiking with some school friends if I want. I like that my weekends aren't jammed full of gigs that may only take an hour or so to play at, but take 3x that in driving and setting up time and then you lose the whole day. It's a double edged sword, but I haven't regretted my decision to quit for a minute.
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