Ah, these are the days of my life. The days where I wake up at 5:45am and fall into bed after 11pm having barely had a moment to breathe. Exhausted, but happy. I still haven't found quite the word to describe it.
First...The Good. The good is very good. My new job as ORUUC's Children's Choir Director is really rewarding and, for the most part, really fun! We've danced the Macarena and learned to draw quarter notes. We've talked about the shofar and sung about Rosh Hashanah. We impressed the congregation this past Sunday with our Hebrew. L'Shana Tovah to you!
My job as the Music Coordinator for Rev. Carol Bodeau's installation at Westside UU Church is nothing short of amazing. We started rehearsals last week and I have to admit -- I think it's a miracle every time voices come together to create music from some little dots printed on a page. Dan Forrest planted this idea in my head and it has really grown into a deep appreciation for how music is created. Rehearsals continue this week and it looks like we'll have between 25-30 folks in the installation choir. I'm already imagining the great sound of their combined voices. A miracle, I tell you.
School, while challenging, is going really well. My first tests in both classes came back with good grades and my piano teacher tells me she can already see my progress. I swear I learned more in the first three weeks of Music Theory (key signatures, intervals, major/minor relative keys) than anyone has ever taught me about music. And we're not even half way through the first term! I've got a lot to learn, but I'm an eager student.
The Bad. Oh, the bad. Scheduling is hard. Two of my classes this semester require work outside of class, so I needed to find more time for school in my week than I expected. I drive to campus every morning now, which was tough to get used to. It also means that I'm working very early morning and later afternoon hours to get my day job done so I can break away from my desk for school each day. At the end of most school/work days, I have to take the kids to their activities and then run off to my own rehearsals. So I really do have several days a week where I'm up at 5:45am and don't see my bed again until11pm. Weekends aren't much better, with kids activities, church service, Children's Choir, volunteer activities and more rehearsals. While I enjoy what I'm doing (even my non-music day job is great), the schedule can be grueling.
The Ugly. So, so ugly. Ugly is what happens when you volunteer to hang out at a high school lock-in until midnight and then come home to a vomiting dog. My weekend went from cleaning the house to singing at a community event with our Mighty House Band to volunteering at the event to the church high school lock in to vomiting dog to sleep to choir rehearsal to children's choir rehearsal to church service to children's choir rehearsal to reorganizing my daughter's bedroom to family dinner to schoolwork to sleep to school to work to karate drop off to... <crash> Did I mention U-G-L-Y? My body stopped me in my tracks with a migraine so fierce that I had to cancel everything for Monday night. No rehearsals, no schoolwork, no emails. Just resting on the couch in a dark room followed by an early bedtime. The mind was willing, but the body was having none of it.
Despite the bad and the ugly, I am really happy. Feeling confident that in working toward my purpose, I am living out my purpose. My body reminds me from time to time that I am, in fact, human and need to take time to rest in the midst of all the excitement. Many times, I feel like a little kid - so full of energy toward living out this dream that I can't sleep, thinking of the next thing I want to learn or try or do. It's exhilarating and exhausting... exhaustarating? exhilarausting?
Whatever it is, it's beautiful.
