Surprises

Life is pretty amazing. When you're having the worst possible week you can think of, small little things pop up that make you very glad; glad to be alive, glad to be doing what you're doing, glad of the friends and family you have, and glad to be you.
My weekend had two very lovely surprises. The first was that I went to see Betty Buckley sing for the first time in about five years and nothing about her had changed. This was a nice surprise. For some reason I was expecting her to look different, sound different...to remind me that time had passed and that I'm older and that the same comforts I had when I was younger no longer have the same meaning. Like in "In My Life" by the Beatles..."There are places I remember/all my life, though some have changed./Some forever, not for better..." I was preparing myself for Betty to have changed. But she hadn't. She was phenomenal as always. She looked absolutely lovely (yet another one of my favorite people in their 60's who looks stunning) and she still had the same plaintive voice that I find so friendly and welcoming. It was a lot like coming home for me. It felt extremely natural to be there listening to her and watch her turn songs into little stories. So... Brava, Betty Lynn...I never should have doubted you for a moment.
I learned something from her too. Something incredibly simple and obvious but very necessary for me and something I had either forgotten or never really conceptualized. The music is enough for her. She seems so very happy just to be singing a song and it's what keeps her going and, I think, is what makes her so good. If the music is enough for you then your audience is no longer a group that passes judgment on you, its a group of people experiencing life with you. I want to get to the point in my singing where the music is enough. Not the accolades or the prizes or the amount of roles I've done or how fabulous I sounded or how terrible I sounded. That is my motto for this year and (hopefully) the rest of my life: The music is enough.
Surprise number two came this morning at about 11 when I was awakened by a phone call. I let it go to voice mail because...well I'm really lazy sometimes. It was Marina saying that she'd forgotten to mention that she was in Mass for a wedding this weekend and asking if we could get together for lunch. That made me really happy. That is one fabulous thing about getting older; no matter how far away your friends are, if they are your true friends you'll always find ways to see them and share with them. It was so lovely to see her and Adam (and their friend, Jim, who was also in town for the wedding). That felt like homecoming for me too; we laughed and swapped stories as if we lived right next door to one another and it was comfortable and effortless. It reminded me why Marina and I are friends and why we always will be. It also reminded me that I have a lot of fun with Adam and that I love them both a lot. So...good day, good weekend. Nice to have a few days to combat the awful ones. Thank you, life, for keeping me on my toes.
First day of classes tomorrow, should be a fun week. Looking forward to getting my music assignments and such. Also seeing King Lear next weekend! Hooray for the Bard and Sir Ian.