Wilton

Okay, so here it is.

It was in Wilton, Connecticut.

Connecticut, okay.

It's not Jersey, but it's close enough.

We are not destined, I don't believe any of us to have one vocation or one job.

Well, you are father, one vocation, but that's going to have very, many different um paths along the way just as much as we want to keep you at our parish forever i'm sure you'll get eventually you know a call to be somewhere else and it's just like where is god leading me to serve and if i can serve at the best of my capacity then i'm gonna i'm gonna trust and go through that but i i think i'm best reminded of the advice i've given to our oldest daughter katie who's at college right now And we had just seen Father Mike Schmitz speak at an event that we were lucky enough to go to in Wilton, Connecticut for St. Teresa school.

And it was at Romans where he talks, Father Mike was talking about every affliction leads to the endurance to lead us to hope.

And that is every single thing that we have gone through has just made us that much stronger and made us new.

Growing up where you grew up, surrounded by the kinds of people that you happened to be surrounded by, were you encouraged to explore the world that was around you physically, woods, buildings, neighborhoods, vacant spaces, or did space just feel conditional to you growing up?

When I was eight or nine, my mother moved me to Wilton, Connecticut.

And I say just like that, like moved us to Wilton, Connecticut, which was like 0.03% black.

And my first day of fourth grade, I got called a nigger on the school bus.

And when I told my principal, Mr. McClathery, Mr. Mack, his face was like, oh, like, oh, what do we do? So his response was for me to teach the school about Kwanzaa.

But it's nothing a little preparation can't handle.

If you have small kids, or just a very low tolerance for complaining, places like Bluff Point State Park in Groton and Weir Farm National Historical Park in Wilton are great bets.

Bluff Point is mostly flat with coastal views and an optional longer loop.

Weir Farm is more of a gentle wander with fields to enjoy, old farm buildings to explore, and short paths that still scratch that hiking itch.

Lita Ford would come to Norwalk and visit Laura like all the time.

And back in the day, we would all trek up to Ace Fraley's house on Tito Lane in Wilton.

And it's just a really small world.

And now all of a sudden we're coming back around full circle.

My father has always been like that too, which is probably where I got this tendency.

He's 90 now and experiencing cognitive decline, but for most of his adult life, and certainly for all the time I lived with him and the rest of the family growing up, when he wasn't off to teach music and composition classes at Long Island University, he'd get up early in the morning and go downstairs to his piano in our fairly dank, dark basement in Wilton, Connecticut, to compose.

He is a fabulous pianist, and these days he'll often play Debussy or Chopin or other classical composers for the joy of playing music.

The condo where he lives now with his wife Christina, with whom he has made many beautiful recordings that you can find on the usual streaming platforms, is often full of the sounds of live music.

But he is here and ready to provide an eloquent recitation of his journey.

He is Andrew Allers of Wilton, Connecticut, and now is the time to hear his story.

Andrew, welcome to Cancer Interviews.

Thank you for having me, and I hope I live up to your, uh, expectations.

And I, you know, as a result of the, the cancer, I retired about four and a half years ago.

Found it was difficult to sort of maintain a, you know, a full-time job and take care of myself.

Um, so I've been in Wilton for about 20 years now.

Now, your cancer journey began in a way people do not associate with cancer.

Some tickets are still on sale for that, right? We can put the link in the show notes to purchase tickets.

It's also off of your website, which is briandelzani.com. And then the 20th, on a Sunday, you go up to New Hampshire, to Wilton, New Hampshire, not Wilton, Connecticut, and you're playing at Prayers of Nature.

Yeah, that's a little listening room and that's a Brian Dolzani solo original show.

I think that's it's a pretty small, small little room, maybe 40, 50 people.

New Canaan.

You could go, well, there's a Wilton train station right here.

But-

Do you have to change? Do you have to change?

Let's see.

Silver Spring in Wilton, Connecticut.

It's a good little track.

There are no tee times, much like you just walk up and you just go play.