After spending more than five decades on this planet, I’ve finally figured out what’s important in life. I’m not the fastest learner, so I’m sure many of you acquired this insight well before I did. My search for meaning, however, was a long, arduous, and frustrating one. At several junctures in my life, I thought I knew the answer, only to realize I was way off base.

As a five-year-old, I thought I could find answers to life’s questions from Popeye and Bugs Bunny cartoons. Imagine my feelings of disappointment and betrayal when I uncovered their diabolical brainwashing plan to get me to eat more spinach and carrots.

By the time I was ten, my search for meaning led me to the desire to live a simple idyllic life, similar to that of the American Indian. What could be better, I thought, than living off the land, wandering the plains with nothing but a loincloth between me and my trusty pony? Then winter came and my dream was dashed by the realization that I could never find happiness shivering under a smelly buffalo skin waiting for the first signs of spring.

Later, as a maturing adult, I threw myself into my career. Certainly I would find joy and meaning in efforts to seek success in my chosen field. But alas, after thirty years of schooling and employment, the rewards now seem far less impressive than I once imagined.

All my efforts to find happiness had fallen woefully short. Fortunately, as I slogged through life in my quest for meaning, I managed somehow to produce three offspring.

So here is my epiphany: I now realize my quest ends with them. It gives me a sense of great joy and meaning to see how they have taken my values, talents, and good traits (yes, I have some) and woven them into their own lives. In that way, they have given me immortality.

I was thinking about this in relation to the opening act for the 2007 Blues In Central Park Series. When The Miller Band hits the stage on Thursday, June 21, you’ll hear a blues band comprised of a father and his three sons who hail from Lafayette, Indiana. This is not your “Partridge Family” kind of group, though. These guys can really play, and are gaining a national reputation and following. Named “Hottest College Act” by Campus Activities Magazine in 2003, the band draws enthusiastic crowds everywhere they play. The youngest of the group, teenage harmonica sensation LD Miller, is especially turning some heads. He’s performed with Buddy Guy at the BB King Blues Fest, American Idol Taylor Hicks, and most recently played on Joe Bonamassa’s new CD You and Me. John Popper of Blues Traveler noted that “LD is the best blues harmonica player I’ve ever heard - and he’s only 13-years old.”

LD and his brother Cole Miller placed second on NBC’s America’s Got Talent last fall. Their national popularity landed them appearances on the Today Show and Ellen Degeneres. Amid all the publicity, the brothers still found time to perform with the band on college campuses across the country last year - 140 performances to be exact.

Larry Miller, bass player and father of this talented brood, must be having the time of his musical life. His sons are following in his footsteps, and giving him the gift of immortality. And I speak from personal experience when I say that performing music with your children is one of the most intimate and satisfying experiences a parent can have. It’s difficult to explain, but musicians from the same family often are able to communicate musically on a very intuitive level.

I’m sure the Miller family experiences this every time they perform. All we can do is envy them the experience, and enjoy the results.

To find out more about The Miller Band, visit their website at: www.claytonmillerbluesband.com.

For the past 23 years, columnist Randy Reyman has been performing on the Kirkland stage as Principal Trumpet with the Millikin/Decatur Symphony Orchestra.

This article originally appeared in the April / May 2007 issue of Decatur Magazine.
It may not be reproduced or redistributed in whole or in part without the publisher's consent.
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