I’ve had a long love affair with the cello.

I still remember the day we first met. I was at the now-defunct Tower Records in Back Bay. In those days, you listened to music on CDs. And, there were stores that sold them. Tower Records had kiosks at which you could listen to sample tracks through headphones.

I randomly put on some headphones and heard this:

I was amazed. The cello sounded incredibly sonorous and soulful. It was sound with real warmth and complexity. Years later, I bought that exact CD, as I never forgot that feeling.

Fast forward, and our children arrived. All took up an instrument. A few learned two. One decided to play the cello and has done so for a long time. And, a few years ago, she played that same Bach cello suite, in its entirety, at a recital.

Fast forward some more, and I recently heard this cool podcast featuring an interview with Yo-Yo Ma. In it, he speaks at length about why he plays and how intertwined it all is with his personal philosophies. It is very interesting.

So, you don’t need to be a musician to enjoy music. I am an example of that. And, music is a lot more than just music, as Yo-Yo Ma mentioned.

And, a cello sounds pretty amazing to me, still, to this day.