As days go, today was just this side of curiously awful. Nothing I can put my finger on exactly but by the time it came to leave the condo for the weekly choir rehearsal that I lead, Capt. SO asked me if I was OK and I said I was just slightly frayed......which was true. I knew that once I got to the rehearsal, the music, the singers and my focus would transport me "up, up and away" - that is just the power of music. As usual, I had a "lesson plan" in place to maximize rehearsal time. This is important for two reasons: A concert is fast approaching - only four rehearsals left - and there is little worse in this world than wasting the time of volunteers - many of whom have worked a long day and not had dinner yet.
Off we drove to rehearsal - with me lost in thought, hoping to find my zen in ten minutes or less. The rehearsal room had been set up hours earlier so all I had to do was walk in and begin waving my arms. Upon walking into the church's narthex I could see that tables were set up and people were carrying bright green plastic cups and eating. This appeared to be food that, perhaps, another director had set up for a group to have some refreshments. Suddenly people were wishing me Happy Birthday and happy sixty years old. Capt. SO began setting people straight, letting them know that I was actually 61.......thank you very much Capt. SO.
It turns out I was a victim of my own prevarication. A few weeks ago, a good friend asked me when my birthday was. Due to the fact that I do not like birthdays or attention, I flippantly told her it was in December. She asked me how old I was going to be and I said "sixty". Taking me at my "word", she and another friend organized a co-birthday party for another director and myself. The number "60" was everywhere - in cards and on posters that had lovingly been made. One of the men who sings in the choir I direct said, "I thought I remembered doing this last year!" He was right. Then someone sang the refrain from a 1965 Minneapolis rock group called the Castaways, "Liar, Liar". I remembered every word and sang along. "Liar, liar, pants on fire. Your nose is longer than a telephone wire." Tonight my nose was about four feet long - just like Pinocchio.
I need to rethink my repeating birthday. Most people pick 39. I picked 60. That'll teach me.
Ancora imprevicario
