Last night was movie night at the Cramer’s and we watched American Symphony which is a remarkable documentary of the extraordinary musician and composer Jon Batiste. Seriously, run, don’t walk to stream it as soon as you can! It tells the story of Batiste’s efforts to compose a truly authentic American symphony, one that combines the many different genres that make up the kaleidoscope of music in this country. More than just that though, the movie chronicles the love between Jon and his life partner Suleika Jaouad as her blood cancer returns after a ten year remission.
For us this documentary captured the essence of living and loving with cancer in your life. It showed the complexity of trying to balance your day to day life and dreams with the reality of a horrible disease. The heart wrenching beauty of navigating something so big and so hard together as a couple. And the way sadness and joy and gratitude and grief can live side by side. The movie is about the making of a musical symphony but for us it spoke to the symphony that is life — full of different notes, emotions and feelings. Here’s to embracing the whole of life in the year ahead.
Happy New Year.
Love Cassie and Dan
I’ve been watching that before bed. It is a terrific production, full of all the feels.