I am Thankful

I am thankful for my husband - for the awesome guy that he is, all his talents and quirks, and all the ways he loves and provides for me.

I am thankful for my friends and family who build me up, pray for me, encourage me, support my endeavors, love me, tolerate me, forgive me, speak openly and honestly with me, spend time with me and allow me to do the same for them.

I am thankful for my teachers and my students from whom I learn so much.

I am thankful for my mind. God has blessed me with the ability to learn and reason, and this has helped me scale many obstacles.

I am thankful for the time, ability and means to continue my education. Grad school has been so exciting and challenging and has opened new worlds to me.

I am thankful for my voice. It is a gift from God which I so often take for granted, but appreciate all the more when I am without it. As a singer, it gives me the means to communicate my inner self when words alone are inadequate.

I am thankful for my home. I have everything I need and a lot that I don't need. I am comfortable and safe.

First and foremost, I am thankful for my Lord. Who am I that He should think of me? His sacrificial love gives me Life here and hereafter and I will never be able to be thankful enough.

Certainly not an exhaustive list. Thanks for the idea, Mellifluous!

My trip concludes

Home again, home again! Arrivederci Roma, hello Denver!

Just got back a couple hours ago. Traveling home was much easier than traveling to Rome. There were only two flights instead of four, and although we had to run to make our connection in Atlanta, we did all get on the plane this time and did not therefore have to be rerouted. And with one unfortunate exception, all of our luggage arrived, as well.

Yesterday morning was interesting. Without warning, something strange happened to my vision. Suddenly I could not focus on anything more than 18 inches from my face. My eyes felt like they were crossing, but they weren't. It was obnoxious and lasted about 2 1/2 hours. I found out later that this is a known (although rare) side-effect of the antibiotic I was taking.

Last night was a huge success. The entire concert went extremely well, and the solo quartet got its own standing ovation even though it was in the middle of the concert. It was the most appreciative applause I can remember, and it will stay with me for a long time. Our quartet has a unique chemistry, both vocally and relationally, that is very special. Add to that the breathtaking acoustics of Rome's St. Ignatius Church, and you get something magical. The whole evening was a perfect finish for the trip, which was (from Thursday onward) a really great time.

My trip continues!

Dear friends,

Thank you so much for your words of encouragement!! :-) My trip has only gotten better since I last wrote to you. Later that day, we sang a beautiful mass in St. Peter's Basilica and a brief concert in the Sistine Chapel. I was not able to sing for the solo quartet in the Sistine Chapel, so the other quartet was given the privilege, but the acoustics in there were unbelievable and it is a memory I will treasure forever. And Thursday afternoon, my luggage arrived!

Friday I toured the Roman National Museum and then toured the Scavi....the excavations two levels below St. Peter's Basilica and saw the tomb where they found the remains of the apostle Peter and the evidence which strongly supports the claim. In the evening, I attended a concert of the Mozart Mass in C minor at St. John Lateran.

Yesterday, I toured the Pantheon and the Spanish Steps and bought myself an Italian purse. I've been looking everywhere for a gift for Eric, but mostly I find things geared toward women, and all the t-shirts are so thin you can see through them. I don't want to go home without a gift for him, but I don't want to buy something shabby just to buy something either.

In the evening, we went to a gala dinner with 6 courses, all the wine you can drink and a cup of espresso, complete with live entertainment - a guitarist, flautist and soprano. The guitarist even changed the lyrics of a song from "bella Maria" to "beautiful Ellie." It was so much fun.

The first time I was in Rome (2002), I did all the tours with the group. Last time, I did almost everything by myself, which I loved - experiencing the culture without other Americans arounds me. This time, I wanted to be with people, so I've gone to see some things I've already and some new things and really enjoyed the comradery of my friends.

I've been a very good girl, missing some things to get to bed early, and tonight my quartet will sing at St. Ignatius. Tomorrow, I fly home.

My trip so far

This has not been a very good trip for me so far.

We left before the sun came up Monday morning. (That is, 11 of us did. The rest of the choir caught a later flight.) It took us 27 hours to get to Rome. We flew from Denver to Atlanta to New York (JFK). Our flight into JFK was delayed due to weather, so we missed our connecting flight to Rome and had to be rerouted through Paris. In Paris, they picked us up at the plane and shuttled us to our next gate since we had only 45 minutes between planes, but they detained our member with cerebral palsy at security and she almost missed the plane. An attendant responsible for getting us on the plane to Rome kept trying to hurry us all onto the plane, but I didn't want to leave Bonnie alone at security, and the attendant said he couldn't promise the plane would wait for her, and he told me my flight would be cancelled if I didn't get on the plane immediately. I had no intention of leaving Bonnie alone in Paris, and I hadn't had but a couple hours of sleep, so I went off on the guy and in the end, the plane waited for us. We arrived in Rome a few hours later. Today is Thursday, and our luggage has yet to catch up with us. So, I've been wearing the same clothes for four days.

Add to that, I got an ear infection. I was perfectly healthy when I boarded the plane in Denver, but my right ear was clogged and my throat on fire on one side before I landed in Atlanta three hours later. Four days later, my ear is still clogged and I cannot hear anything out of my right ear.

I went straight to bed when I got to the hotel. My friends had food and antibiotics sent up. I don't know if I reacted to the antibiotics or if it was just the ear infection that caused it, but I passed out in St. Peter's Square after the papal audience yesterday morning. I've been really weak ever since. I can't climb more than 2 flights of stairs without getting exhausted. The rest of the group is visiting the Vatican museums this morning. I will meet them at St. Peter's at noon to sing mass, and our concert in the Sistine Chapel is scheduled for 4pm. It seems most unlikely that I will be able to sing the solo quartet, as it is very high and requires a ton of energy. Right now, I'm concerned about getting through the mass.

I am so frustrated. I have no luggage and I haven't gotten to do anything since I got here except lay in bed. The choir brought me here to SING, and I feel like I'm letting them down. It has to get better from here. It just has to.

Hanging in there

It's hard to believe I don't have class again for 2 1/2 weeks. Fortunately, I'm about two weeks ahead in everything except guitar. And housecleaning. I'm about two months behind in housecleaning, and it drives me nuts.

Yesterday (Wed) was tough. I broke the washing machine. I blame it on Trisket. He keeps peeing on the bathroom rug when he feels his box is too messy. (I've never seen such a picky cat.) I keep washing the rug. It's a shag rug, and lots of yarn comes out of it when it gets washed. Mind you, the rug never seems to lose any, but the washer is always full of it. I've been washing it in a pillow case, but to no avail. The yarn wound itself around the gears in the water pump and broke the seal. Eric replaced the water pump only to find that the seal from the hose is broken, too. So, tomorrow we welcome a new washer and dryer into our home (to the tune of way too much money). After all, I need to wash some clothes if I plan to wear any in Rome. And I do plan to wear clothes in Rome. Anyhow, it's all Trisket's fault.

And the studio recital this weekend.... well, the program is getting shorter. Two students pulled out early on due to other commitments. Then I pulled myself from the program because I've been internalizing my stress, so I'm wound up tighter than an 8-day clock, and body tension is like poison to singing - it blocks the flow of the breath. My teacher and I decided it was a bad idea for me to present myself in front of all my students and their parents as the quintessential example of bad technique. And this afternoon, two more students canceled due to significant illnesses. And my accompanist is sick and has completely lost her voice. She came tonight and played the dress rehearsal anyway (pianists can get away with that - singers can't), and I am desperately praying that the rest of us don't get sick.

The good news is that my sweet Eric remembered to tape my Thursday night programs. We usually watch TV together on Thursdays: Survivor, CSI:Las Vegas, and Shark - back to back to back. It's the only day of the week you'll find me anywhere near the TV. (Well, I used to dust it now and then, but lately....)

So, that's about it. It's time to start packing. Arrivederci!

You know it's time to address your acne when...

...your eight-year-old piano student walks through the door and exclaims, "Oh, you have chicken pox!"

Yes, that happened to me today. From the mouths of babes! So, I've been trying ProActiv for a couple of weeks, but I've been inconsistent with it, so it's been making things worse instead of better. It's really frustrating. It's worse now than when I was a teenager. I hate acne. :-(

When in Rome...

I leave for Rome a week from tomorrow. I am looking forward to it, if only because I will have no choice but to let go of everything that's going on at home.

This week will be very crazy as I try to take a test and turn in assignments early, and do a school observation (tomorrow morning). And packing. And rehearsing, and dress rehearsing for Saturday's studio recital and Sunday's choir concert. So, if you're one of those wonderful people who's emailed me and hasn't been hearing back, this is why.

I really am looking forward to the trip, though. I like Rome (this will be my third trip there in less than 5 yrs), I like singing, and I like the people I'm going with, which is my choir. We're singing for the new pope at next Wednesday's audience. We will also sing concerts in the Sistine Chapel and St. Ignatius for which I am a soloist. We sang the same concert downtown this afternoon at a lovely old stone church with really nice acoustics, and the solo quartet stuff was finally something to be proud of. The quartet music is extremely difficult to sing and even more difficult to sing in tune, but today it was the best it has ever been. This gives me some much needed confidence going into the Roman concerts. We will sing this concert again next Sunday afternoon, too, but that church has carpet, so the acoustics are lousy, and that makes a big difference.

The downside to these trips is leaving Eric at home. I'm already suffering separation anxiety, and he's just down the hall! This just reiterates that the life of a traveling full-time performer is not for me. I love performing, but I prefer being at home with Eric. Fortunately, I also like teaching. :-)