Why I keep picking up instruments I'll probably never master—and why I hope you ask someone you love to teach you something this week.

I learned one of my deepest life philosophies by falling out of a raft: when the current is stronger than you, stop trying to stand in the rapids. Years later, leukemia taught me the same lesson again. There is peace in trust.

I almost missed the song. What began with a World Cup match became a moment of patriotism without the cringe, a return to my father’s unfinished song, and a reminder that maybe love of country means wanting us to become worthy of each other.