2022 in Review from the Road
Dear friends, family and supporters,
It’s that day again. The one on which I should be reflecting each year. Reflecting on growth in the past year and desired growth for the next. Considering what to leave behind in 2022 and what to take forward in 2023. Reflecting on new relationships and those that have grown. Reflecting on growth of self-knowledge, of passion, of progress.
It is easiest to reflect on 2022 through the people who made it a year of beautiful relational growth. My year started in Paris, meandered through the Midwest, plopped in Vermont for a spell, Delaware for a month, New York here and there, and is now ending in Kansas, as I look forward to starting a lease in Brooklyn in January. In Paris, the women of my French class were wonderful friends and colleagues as we all pursued learning the French language at the Sorbonne for various reasons. I made wonderful friends at the American dorm where I lived: friends who supported me emotionally, challenged me and opened me up to great personal discovery. There was my French family, the Eckerleins, who supported me throughout the ups and downs of my life abroad and always made me feel so welcome and loved. And there were music friends: my teacher, Susan, who opened a world of music inside of me; my partner-in-crime of Paris, Juliette, who gave me an musical outlet in the city; and of course, my partner-in-crime/sister, Nora, with whom I got to collaborate on a week of masterclasses, shenanigans and wonderful performances at the Royaumont Abbey and the Musée d’Orsay.
My family has supported me enormously this year, through many a text, phone and video conversation, but also welcoming me back to the US and helping me with the initial chaos of returning after a year abroad. I can’t imagine all the transitions that I have had without their support, especially during that significant period. Dad and Kendra have been real champions, Dad even coming out to Paris for a week in the spring (Kendra tried, but was thwarted by Covid and Manitoba). It has also been delightful to see my sister Grace and her family at least once per month since June (except maybe July, but we’ll excuse that). The time that I spent in Delaware for music and the various traveling I have done with our family car (that generously lives in Lancaster County with most of my earthly belongings) made many visits to Grace and Ben’s possible. The emotional support I have gotten from my sisters this past year has been invaluable. We have used the app Marco Polo as a means to stay in touch despite living in three time zones. Three sisters got married this year: my true-blood-sister Anna got married in February/May/August in Japan and Kansas (don’t worry, it was the same man all three times), my sister-cousin Joanna got married in September and my singing-sister Lydia got married a couple weeks ago.
Music has been the source of extremely important relationships: those aforementioned Paris relationships, friends at the Marlboro Music Festival this summer and friends from performances in Delaware this fall. Old Marlboro friends made me feel loved and supported immediately upon our return to the campus in Vermont and new friendships were forged that have been so dear and important to me, especially as I return to life in New York City. In Delaware, I reconnected with many from 2020, and the cast of Così fan tutte could not have been a more supportive, loving, listening, creative, wonderful group of people. Not an ego in the cast- just love offstage and really, really good work onstage.
And of course, there in my passel of people in New York, the reason I am transitioning back to living in that metropolitan capital of consumer- and capitalism. There is my church choir family at Marble Collegiate Church: notably Joan, who recently nursed me through the nastiest virus I have had since the epic stomach flu/hospice combination of 2016 (what is with Christmas week illnesses??), and who has provided a haven for me many times when I have been traveling to and fro. There is my actual family: my cousin Graceanne, who I will be living with in Brooklyn starting in January and with whom there is barely a moment without giggles; and there’s the Ogden-Wolgemuths, my real and soul-family, who have been supportive since Mom and I started traveling to NYC for various music-related reasons in high school and have continued through the Juilliard days and the post-France transitions. Linda has been especially dear for her motherly care, her adventurous spirit and our mutual love for tea and live theater. And what would I be doing in NYC if not attending my friends’ performances every other night? It is awfully exciting to see your friends performing at Carnegie or creating their own soul-inspired programs to complete their studies. Not to mention how creatively inspired I have personally felt from these performances.
Indeed, I am also grateful for the many opportunities I have had this year to reconnect with old friends: Shaked in Paris, the Haselsteiners and Gabe in Vienna, Mitchell in Chicago, and many who have been ears on the phone when I have needed them: Maria, Charlotte, Aunt Rosie and so many others. New York is also a delightful place to reconnect with people you haven’t seen in years and perfect for running into people you forgot lived there.
In 2022, I learned about the power of vulnerability. That I need to love myself more. I have learned to trust and respect myself as an artist and I have discovered not only a project I feel deeply passionate about, but also a like-minded person with whom to work on it and an organization to present it. Stay tuned.
What would I leave behind in 2022? Self-judgment. Trying to read minds. Not getting out and seeing people enough.
What will I take forward into 2023? Adventure. Saying “yes, and…”. Freedom to admit what I want and need. Every person who made this year so inspiring. And lots of Japanese tea.
And what do I hope to add to that in 2023? Patience- not something at which I have ever excelled, but something I foresee adding to my quality of life. More creative exploration. Believing in myself and my work, and seeing the beauty in both.
May you experience God’s grace and goodness in 2023 as richly and fully as I did in 2022,
Marie
