Now back at home after a long trip, I recall that a peripatetic life suits me.

My artistic friends that I visit while traveling, strengthen, comfort and guide me. There is a parallel to our paths. The parallel is that we exist in this world as  lifelong, passionate students of art and music.

There is a ceaseless quest for understanding the world, because we are conduits of the sentiments in the world. As my brother David put it so succinctly, “The business of an artist is to know.”

I also believe, the function of an artist is to be able to express. Artists express the joy and pain that life brings in their work.

Music is my meditation. It feels like breathing; without it, I would not last.

The rhythm of an artist’s practice comforts strengthens and guides. My friends, many of them artists whom I have visited along this travel, provide safe havens for long discussions regarding this ephemeral path. There were also friends made during travels that inspired me with their passion and dedication to the art of travel.  Creative living is their muse.

While sitting with around a table on New Year’s Eve at a Thai restaurant, filled with families, people of ages 8 to 53, New Year’s resolutions were exchanged. The table was filled with college students, medical administrators, restauranteurs, children and me.  My musician friend was playing at a private party, and we would visit later, in the wee hours of the morning.

Some wishes were very specific.

“I wish to travel more this year.”

Another, “I wish to return back home.”

And for myself, I wish to be able to have so much love, that it is  transformational. Through my art, this happens.