Did I mention that I love drums?

I was all set to head out for Whitesburg with my sister Rosanne for some girl time on the Cumberland when I received an e-mail from Creative Aging about a drum training. Anyone who makes it inside my humble abode can tell two things about me at once:

1. Hello Kitty is everywhere. (Don't ask.)
2. The livingroom and office are filled with drums.

So, yeah. I cancelled my much-awaited jaunt to Whitesburg, KY where I knew a great music and crafts festival happens every year and signed up for the great unknown based on one word, "drum."

Way back in the 1990s I saw a headline in the Kentucky Post that read "Banks to hold drum workshop." I think I drove to the Carnegie Performing and Visual Arts Center that very day to sign up. I wish I could tell you that I had some longterm vision for how this "drum thing" would lead me and contribute to the overall good. However, I can't. I just knew that I had to be in the workshop with Dennis Banks, and that drums were important to me. After five years of both taking and assisting with that particular workshop, I made several drums myself and helped hundreds of Dennis' students complete their drums. In those workshops, I learned that it wasn't really about drums, but about what a community can accomplish together.

So, this past weekend I was reminded of that lesson when I trained to become a HealthRHYTHMS facilitator. HealthRHYTHMS is the brainchild of Dr. Barry Bittman and Christine Stevens who have developed a research-backed protocol for drumming that actually improves the health of participants. I am excited and honored that Creative Aging chose me to attend this phenomenal workshop along with board member, James Waddle and Director of Eldermount, Kathy Baker. I can't wait to see what changes drumming in this protocol can effect for seniors in my area. I can't wait to apply this protocol in school residencies.

So, here in my first blog, I just want to assure those of you who feel very "obsessed" with something in your life, that sometimes the universe is trying to speak to us in terms we understand. The universe knows that dangling a big ole drum before me is going to do the trick. Why say, "Hey, Roberta! It's time for you to get more involved in your community?" When you can just say "drums." And, of course, I'll be there.