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Every once in a while, the Universe sends me a little message. The message is always the same, and it reads:

You're doing the right thing. Keep it up.

For as many frustrating practice sessions, disorganized rehearsals, low-paying gigs, late nights coming home, and near mental breakdowns I've had in the past several years, everything can be put into perspective with a simple 10-minute conversation.

As I was about to head out last night, a very important decision had to be made: CTA or cab? Being that it was already 10:30pm, I was not looking to spend $3 and 45 minutes on a couple of buses to get to the party that I was heading to. So, I opted for the cab: I flagged one down and off I went.

Once inside the cab, I did the thing that I always do: I asked the cab driver how his night was, where he's from, etc. After two or so minutes of this idle talk, we stumbled onto the topic of this little-known thing called music. Being that he is Indian, we discussed Eastern music at length, the differences between musical culture here in America and in India, and how music can truly bring together very, very different people. At the conclusion of the latter, as if cued by a conductor, we both immediately sat back in our seats, didn't utter a word, and just soaked up the beautiful Indian music he had playing through the speakers.

We both realized what had happened. Two very different people, one of them a white boy from the American Midwest and the other an older man from Western India, had just found a connection that they talked vivaciously about for ten minutes. Language and cultural barriers were torn to pieces.

You're doing the right thing. Keep it up.