Clayton--Dreams Became Realities

      To me, it was a dream for a while, just too good to be true, an absolute fantasy. That’s what I have been calling it for a while now, a fantasy. Every morning, I woke up feeling fulfilled, and just… good. Everything was going great in general. My career was really kicking off and I’m getting noticed by many great musicians throughout America. But that wasn’t my fantasy. I expected my success because I knew what was coming, I knew how my future in music would turn out, because I put my heart to it, my mind as well and dedicated my entire life to music, what I loved doing the most. It’s what I did best and it’s what I have worked and still work my butt off for, to be the best tenor sax player I can be, and to pursue my dream. Now I’m living my dream, literally, and there is no occupation that would suit me better than the career I have been dreaming about since my freshman year in high school. A near perfect life, this man was living.

But back to the fantasy of my life. The third day of even knowing she existed I declared I was in love, that she was the one, that she was going to be that special girl in my life, and the only one for me, so I thought. As time passed, those thoughts became increasingly true. The two soon-to-be lovers met unexpectedly at a jazz club in New York. I had a few days off until my next performance, so what better thing to do than visit my so called “happy place”. This was my favorite jazz club and I go here quite often. So often, in fact, I knew the owner of the establishment, its employees, and even the jazz cats that performed there regularly. I notify them of my arrival so that I may sit at my favorite table, where it has a straight, perfect, close view of the stage, but it is far enough to not be blasted by the speakers. As I was listening to a Latin chart that was playing, the owner came and sat with me at my table. He asked me how I was doing career wise, if I have been treating my sax well, the same usual business. But one thing he said did catch my interest just a bit more, he told me about someone who had recently been coming here quite often lately, about a few times a week, and that she also plays tenor sax as well as piano and, like me, was considered a prodigy in high school. He was definitely considering hiring her to perform for them a few times a week, and he asked me if I would talk to her, help her out, maybe even join her some nights when performing. The owner introduced us and left us to talk, so we mainly talked about our background and it turned out that nearly everything, in music, we had in common. The only problem was that back in high school, she didn’t have a band director like mine. My band director put me on the right track after high school, he set me up for success, and guided me every step of the way. Unlike her band director, he didn’t guide her, she told me he didn’t even know what she should do after high school. We then talked about what she should do in the near future, and the conversation soon escalated when we slowly started flirting with each other. I’m not sure who started it but from that moment on I knew I’d be talking to this girl for a long time. She surprised me when she asked me out to get drinks this weekend. I told her I’d be delighted but I haven’t had a sip of alcohol my entire life and didn’t plan on starting any time soon, or at all. She wasn’t a big drinker either, so we ended up getting coffee the next afternoon, and went back to the jazz club. Talking to her made me feel alive, excited, and she plays the sax so I sure do think she is the perfect girl for me. I went to that jazz club every day, when I’m not performing, with her and I enjoyed every second of my time with her, she became my girlfriend the third day I met her.

A couple years have passed and she has now joined me on my journey of music, and we did several recordings together, making us both very successful. She lives with me now, and I want to propose soon, but my plans for my proposal to her had to be nothing but perfect, so I took my time to make the moment extravagant, clever, and smooth. I told her I bought her a new mouthpiece, but when she opened the box, there was actually something way more expensive than a gold mouthpiece, a symbol that would end up to be priceless for us, a gold ring bejeweled all around with diamonds. When she looked up from the beautiful ring, she saw me on one knee, and that got her. She cried and laughed slightly, I said her name, Sally, softly and sweetly, then asked the most important question of my life. She told me I knew the answer and hugged me as tight as she could, whispering yes, yes in my ear. This put us off on a wonderful journey together, our wedding was a magical night a couple months after my proposal, and our honeymoon was heavenly, traveling around America on vacation meeting the most famous musicians you could think of. Staying in a luxury hotel on the west coast, taking a break from music, enjoying ourselves on the warm breezy beach, watching the color filled skies as the sun set. My great times with her were my fantasy, but she was with me wherever I went, always by my side, and always there when I need her, and I was always there when she needed me. So I literally was living a dream, and I wouldn’t want it any other way, being with the perfect girl, and having the perfect lifetime career. This was my dream my freshman year, and I guess I never woke up.