In the natural order of life, we're most likely to outlive our pets, but our instruments will very likely outlive us, and whoever plays them after we're gone, and after that person's gone (provided they're well cared for, of course). I am a devoted cat lover for all my adult life (unfortunately had none in my childhood), some might even say I'm a cat whisperer, and I've found that it is it is the felines' unique individual natures, their "otherness" to humans, and definitely the transience of their existence, that endears and bonds me with them all the more during the time I have with them. I cherish the photos from all stages of the lives of the ones that have gone on and the memories they evoke. OTOH, I look at pictures taken over the years of me with my instruments, and guess which one of the subjects inevitably shows their advancing age the most clearly? Hmmm, I wonder if on some level, I am my instruments' "pet". LOL
bratsche
bratsche