When You Don’t Have Time — Tip of the Week

Last week, I was in New Orleans for the annual meeting of the Employers Counsel Network, sponsored by M. Lee Smith Publishers. It’s always terrific to spend time with lawyers from around the country who edit the 50 state employment law letters published by MLSP.

A tight schedule made me unsure if I could attend any of the annual Jazz Festival, which occurs the last weekend in April and the first weekend in May. I’d never been, was eager to hear the widest and best variety of music anywhere, and decided that if I missed my flight home, I’d figure something out.

I went first to the gospel tent, then the jazz tent, and then the blues tent. Performing on stage was Grandpa Elliott Small, who has been a street musician in New Orleans for decades. He’s blind, has a white beard and wears trademark overalls. I thought he looked familiar, but I didn’t realize until later that he was part of the PBS presentation of Stand By Me performed by a variety of performers from across the world. (He’s the second artist on the video.) That’s where I’d seen him.

At Jazz Fest, he closed with Stand By Me and a medley of songs weaved so adeptly into SBM that it seemed like one long, grand piece. When the crowd wouldn’t stop its applause, he took the microphone and sang  Amazing Grace a cappella. When he moved toward the end, he improvised a bit by singing, “As you know, I’m blind, but thanks to my sister here [as he placed his arm around his guitarist], she has taught me how to see.”

At that moment, it seemed I had all the time in the world. During every workday, there are those moments. The key is not missing them.