I like your eyes.
For some reason, I'm not exactly sure why, a certain person has been in my thoughts for several days. I first met him in the fall of 1999 when I began my graduate work at OSU. I knew from the moment I laid eyes on him that he and I were going to have a great relationship, but I had no I idea what he would come to mean to my life and how deep a friendship we would cultivate.
I've known this person for over seven years now, and in that seven years he has seen me go through a tremendous amount of turmoil and upheaval in my life. Indeed, he was the first one to know of my feelings for Steph, for it was on a cold and snowy February afternoon that I ran to his office in the Seretean Center, and with tears streaming down my cheeks, confessed to him of the forbidden love that would tear my life and the lives of my family apart. He sat and listened without judgment, but with tremendous concern for me and for the impact that a love like this would have on me and upon my family. Then when there was nothing else to be said, he threw his arms around me in an embrace and said, "Welcome to my side of the fence, darling!"
Since then, Allen Scott has been there beside me through every major event in my life. When Steph was so ill with ear infections that she couldn't get out of bed and I had to go to Texas to get my grandmother, Allen called to check on her, making sure that she was alright. When news got out of my mother's death, Allen came to our home with food, comfort, a listening ear, and a shoulder to cry on. In fact, Allen was the only person during that time who gave in such a manner. He repeated the same gesture a little over a year ago when Steph's mother died. Allen was there for me with support and friendship when I went through the hell of losing my children. He was the one who encouraged me to keep going when I didn't feel as if I had any resources of strength or perseverance left. He has been there beside Steph and me in our sorrows and our triumphs with his encouragement and amazing sense of humor, class, and style. Allen served as the chair of my graduate committee, and during my tenure at OSU, on two different occasions, I was blessed to sit under his instruction. Without Allen Scott, the world would know a whole lot less about Anna Storace, for it was Allen who encouraged and inspired me in my research on her. He was present at the party that was filmed and made into one of the scenes in Mozartballs. (Of course, he would be the one opening the champagne!) Allen has always been there to support and encourage me whenever I perform. He came to see me in the role of Katisha in The Mikado, when my own voice professor couldn't find it worth her time to come, and when Steph and I gave our screening party for Mozartballs, he was one of the most excited, most enthusiastic members of the audience, staying well into the wee hours of the morning to again, discuss the implications of this film upon Steph and my lives.
I can name on one hand the people who have been this important, and this close to my life. Each have contributed in profound and in different ways. I have been blessed to have people like these, who have loved unconditionally, who have supported and encouraged, and done it all without thought of themselves or what was in it for them. And among them is Allen, who will always be regarded as one of the dearest.
Yeah, I know, a little rain must fall. But sometimes it's just damned inconvenient and a pain in the ass. Last night, Steph and I took Lauren to Tulsa for an interview with a representative from St. John's College and then out to dinner with my dad and his wife. The drive there was pleasant enough, although Steph really wasn't feeling well, and had been in an irritable mood earlier, (Tylenol III works wonders in such instances).
The interview went well, and Steph and I were so proud of our girl, who looked so professional and smart all dressed up in her suit and heels. She was articulate and intelligent, and we sat at a nearby table and gloated like only two proud parents could. Afterwards, we met my dad and Mary at The Olive Garden in Utica Square Mall, and had a really great time with them. After we got into the car and started pulling out of the parking lot, however, I realized that things were not all right with the car. It has been giving us indications for several months now, that a belt was going out, but we've just not been in the financial position to take it in and have it looked at. We thought, mistakenly, that we could keep nursing it along and that it would be okay. Well, last night, in the middle of the highway, just out of Sand Springs, it died. It just died.
Fortunately I was able to coast the car onto the shoulder and call my dad on Lauren's cell phone, and he came out to get us. Much to Steph's dismay, we had to leave the car sitting on the side of the road, near an overpass outside of Sand Springs as Dad drove us home to Stillwater.
There is a silver lining on this rain cloud, however. Micah has graciously offered to drive out with Steph to Sand Springs and get the car, tow it back with his truck, and if it is truly the engine belt, fix it. And if we're lucky, it will cost us a tank of gasoline, the rental price of a U-haul tow dolly, the cost of an engine belt part, and a couple of beers. Ah well!
I've got the itch again. It has been nearly four months since I've done any serious singing and I'm ready to get back to work! Chamber Singers begins rehearsals on the 17th and I'm frothing at the bit to get started. We're doing the Faure Requiem along with some other Romantic Period pieces for our first concert in November. I'm excited, too, because my daughter, Lauren will be joining us for the November concert. Mark needed to pad the group up a little for the Faure and invited Lauren, along with a few others, to join us for the one concert. She seems pretty excited about getting to sing with us.
In other musical news, I have a couple of new voice students and a possibility for a new piano student. AND the DVD version of Mozartballs is due out very soon! Can't wait for that because there are 17 minutes more footage of Steph and me, as well as me singing at the Masonic Temple in Guthrie. Waiting on pins and needles!
I've got the itch again. It has been nearly four months since I've done any serious singing and I'm ready to get back to work! Chamber Singers begins rehearsals on the 17th and I'm frothing at the bit to get started. We're doing the Faure Requiem along with some other Romantic Period pieces for our first concert in November. I'm excited, too, because my daughter, Lauren will be joining us for the November concert. Mark needed to pad the group up a little for the Faure and invited Lauren, along with a few others, to join us for the one concert. She seems pretty excited about getting to sing with us.
In other musical news, I have a couple of new voice students and a possibility for a new piano student. AND the DVD version of Mozartballs is due out very soon! Can't wait for that because there are 17 minutes more footage of Steph and me, as well as me singing at the Masonic Temple in Guthrie. Waiting on pins and needles!
This evening Steph opened her email and found a letter from a publisher of music books in Italy. They found this picture that I took of Steph in the window of Mozart's music room in the Figarohaus a year ago and thought it was so beautiful that they want to use it for the cover of one of their books!
It's probably my very favorite photo of the entire trip, and most certainly one of my favorite photographs of Steph. I just can't believe that someone else found it as beautiful as I do. And I'm not even a photographer!
It just goes to show that you never know what life has waiting for you around the corner.
I started to write a blog entry of my own on the subject of Rev. Ted Haggard and his escapades with a male prostitute in Denver, (not to mention the purchase and usage of methamphetamines from the same said male prostitute/masseuse), but when I found THIS ONE I realized that this says it all.
All I need to add is that, in my opinion, it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. And uh, Pastor Ted, I don't recall Jesus ever saying anything about homosexuality, but I DO recall his condemnation of adultery.
"I bought it but I never used it...". Yeah right, Pastor Ted. I recall someone else saying that they smoked weed but they didn't inhale. We're not that stupid.
Steph and I were traveling by train from Vienna to Salzburg to continue filming for Mozartballs. When we arrived in Salzburg and checked into our hotel, I decided to turn the TV on to CNN International and catch up on some news from the states. Our filming schedule in Vienna had been so hectic that we didn't have time to catch up on anything. When I turned the TV on, we heard the reports coming in from New Orleans of the disaster left by Hurricane Katrina. That evening we joined Larry Weinstein and the rest of the crew at the Stieglkeller restaurant, which was across the river and up the Festungsgasse. We were exhausted from the past few days' shoots, but the good food, good fellowship, and good Stieglkeller bier gave us the strength to carry on!
If we thought the past days were hectic, they were nothing compared to the next day ahead. It wasn't so bad for me, but for Steph, it was grueling. Steph and I both filmed at the hotel, (my profile photo), and then Steph was filmed all over Salzburg including the Mozart family grave, the Mozart Wohnhaus, and then after changing into his Mozart clothes, all over the Kapitelplatz, and the Festungsgasse. We didn't arrive back at the hotel until around midnight. Having had nothing to eat since lunch, we decided to walk down the street from the hotel to a little wurst stand, and get something to bring back to our room.
The next day was an off-day and after sleeping in, we awakened, dressed, and went to have a light lunch at a hotel restaurant and beer garden, not far from our hotel. I don't remember what Steph had, but I had the most delicious potato soup I think that I've ever tasted! After that, we returned to our hotel and napped before we dressed and then walked over the bridge to the old town to do some browsing and shopping for gifts to take back home to the kids.
We walked the ancient, cobblestone streets of Salzburg, held hands, and dreamed of the day when we would return to Austria as ex-patriots, living in Vienna. After we spent a couple of hours strolling through old Salzburg, we met our English friends, Liz and Nigel in front of Mozart's Geburtshaus, and had a joyous time meeting them face-to-face for the first time. We bought some drinks and sat at a table in the platz and talked for a while before we all walked together to an old restaurant where Mozart, Haydn, and other Austrian notables were known to have frequented, Zum Mohren. (Steph is fond of telling everyone that when one goes to the restroom, one can touch the ancient Roman city walls while taking a dump.) Our dinner with Liz and Nigel was fabulous, and we parted wishing that we could have more time together. It's our hope that one day we will be able to go to visit them in England, and then all travel to Salzburg together!
The next morning we awakened and packed our bags for the return train trip back to Vienna. Our return trip was not nearly as pleasant as the trip to Salzburg, because the porter ripped us off out of our first class ticket compartment! Seeing that we were Americans, and two women traveling together, he pulled the "I-don't-understand-English-well" routine and tried to tell us that our tickets were not first class tickets, and that we would have to pay twenty Euros more each to upgrade them to first class or go and sit in business class. Steph and I were too exhausted to argue with him so we gathered our luggage and moved, grumbling that if Gerhardt had been with us, this wouldn't have happened.
We arrived back in Vienna worn out, but needing the day to debrief and have some time alone, together in the city we loved.
Steph and I have just come home from an evening of dinner out and shopping, something that we've not been able to do with one another for a couple of months since Steph has been so swamped with this huge web design project. Anyway, while we were out, we saw an outfit, a puce skirt and top that I couldn't pass up. Now that I'm working as a front desk receptionist in a real estate office, I need some nice looking clothes so I felt justified in buying it. But even more exciting is the fact that I have dropped TWO SIZES in the last two months!
This is a picture that Lauren just took of me wearing my new outfit! I'm starting to get a waistline again! Hooray!!!
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| Lynette Erwin |
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