According to the interwebz, November 6 is National Saxophone Day. A million years ago (in the late 1960s) my dad took saxophone lessons. He never became known for his jazz noodling, and as far as I know, never played a note on anything other than an empty pop bottle after high school, but the minute I showed an interest that old sax was dug out of his parents attic and sent down to me. There were no young ladies on saxophone in any band I every played - in school or out, and I sometimes felt a bit out of place with it.
Like my dad, I never became a player of any renown, no matter how much faith my family had in me. I still have his old saxophone, but when I think of that summer when I failed to learn to play, I think of both him who wanted only success for me, and his younger sister, who sent me this figurine - just in case I ever doubted girls should play.
