For starters, my brother visited last week--he came in Wednesday evening and left yesterday morning. It was good to see Aaron and catch up. We even got to have dinner, just the two of us, on Thursday night. We mostly keep in touch by post card these days--he collects them and loves getting them from the various adventures I go on.
Then, of course, came the back pain. I spent much of Friday afternoon walking around with a slight hunch in my back from that. In the evening, the family went to dinner, then I departed for Sacramento and a two-and-a-half-hour choir rehearsal.
Yesterday, I woke up early to help see Aaron off, had an hour-long walk, then did a few things here at home before leaving, at about 2:00, for Davis. Davis is about 40 miles from Lincoln, so it would be hours and hours before I returned. We had another two-and-a-half hour rehearsal with the orchestra, followed by a dinner break, and then our first of two "Home For the Holidays" concerts. A lot of standing, a lot of singing.
My back held up pretty well. I stretched whenever I had the chance and tried to do whatever my body seemed to need as I could, whether walking around or sitting. The diciest moment came at the very beginning of a very quiet, very beautiful piece called "Infant Holy, Infant Lowly," when I had a small muscle spasm in my lower back/upper glute/hip area and stood there lip-synching for a few bars, one foot off the ground and my eyebrows raised in perpetual "engaged singing face" mode. I sincerely hope I wasn't grimacing there in the front row.
But overall, everything went well--it was a gorgeous concert and I had a gorgeous moment at one point when it occurred to me that despite my physical discomfort, I was really in the moment musically and having a wonderful time making music with this huge group of singers and instrumentalists. It took some of the focus away from my back.
Of course, by the end of the concert, I was nearly drooping in exhaustion. I made it back to Lincoln at about 11:00, had a shower and a cup of tea, then passed out at about midnight.
This morning, I've finished some grading for a friend and now I'm just off to shower in a few minutes so I can drive back to Davis and do it again--just the concert this time, no rehearsal beforehand (thank God!!). Mom and Dad are going to this concert, so we'll all just drive together, saving me from being behind the wheel. Divine.
I'll close this off with a pic from last night. I call it "A Lady, A Choir Dress, and a Lucky Rubber Ducky."
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| The BEST thing about SCSO? We get to be festive for our holiday concert! Everyone else wore red, so I decided to be different in green. |
1 comment:
A lovely lady, a dynamite choir dress, and a darlin' lucky rubber ducky. Hoping the back is better very soon!
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