Thanksgiving!

Have a Thanksgiving that's filled with thanks and giving! No matter what is going on in our lives, there is always someone somewhere who has less...and always someone somewhere who has more. Our path is full of flowers if we will only recognize they exist--and each of you, my friends who are reading this blog, is a flower in my path. I am thankful for you, for life in New York City, for Aria, for having full use of my legs and arms and eyes and nose and ears, for the joy of art and ocean and music and tiny animals and huge clouds and...and most of all, I'm thankful for being given a desire to choose to see what's good in my world--I know so many people who don't seem to have that desire, and who never choose to be happy. I am very very thankful to be happy.

I'm so thankful for Being Watched Over with such love. For some of you, the word God is full of negative associations--or rather, an emptiness, a lack of association with Reality. For me--as you well know!--God IS Reality, and He/She/It is the reason I am able to create, smile, and love. I am very very thankful.

Have a wonderful holiday!

When It Rains, It Pours

Saturday morning, and I'm ready for a really fun and exciting few days. A friend's wedding today on Long Island, a schlep--I'm playing violin in a quartet and singing in a choir, plus volunteered to keep the musicians organized (there are 2 soloists, a cantor, a pianist, and a trumpet player in addition to the quartet and choir!). And one of the choral pieces is my own setting (for this wedding) of Song of Solomon's "set me as a seal upon your heart." Never sung before, so I'm excited to hear it today.

Then we'll party--black-tie!--til the wee hours, and I take the train home to sleep a little before the second reading here in my living room of the musical I've been working on with co-librettist Jean Mornard for 2 years. For the first reading, I sang the lead role so I wouldn't have to depend on another singer to learn the material. For this reading, a wonderful sightreading friend, Silvie, is singing the lead role so that I can sit back and really listen, and evaluate the writing (Jean will be on the phone, listening long-distance!). A cast of 10 plus stage-directions reader, music director Matt, director Mary Kate, and 4 observers--plus me and Aria--will pack my little living room with a total of 18 people! Yesterday was spent moving furniture out and chairs in and receiving the enormous delivery of food I ordered. Sunday afternoon will be about prepping the food and cleaning the bathroom. :-)

Then 2 days later, off for an early Thanksgiving in Texas with my sister, her family, and my mom.

Ordinarily, any one of these 3 events would be cause for excitement, planning, adrenaline. WHY DO I DO EVERYTHING AT THE SAME TIME??? :-)  This seems to happen regularly, that when it rains, it pours! I think often that phrase is used in a negative way--for me, it's a positive statement. The stress is all positive stress...and my December's too focused for letdown, so I'll hopefully get to just keep enjoying it all as I continue into the holidays and the adrenaline slowly returns to "normal"--whatever that means in my life. 

(Did I mention that, a week and a half after I get back from TX, I'm performing 20 minutes of my own writing in a musical theater series? Haven't even started planning that yet!)

Let's face it--I think I like the adrenaline pumping. And New York certainly supports that way of being. So I'm in the right place, doing the right things. Yay.

And outside? It's pouring, too. :-)

VOTE!

That's it. Just vote.

Well, not completely it. I'm sooooooooo not a political animal. Usually. But this year's election has my stomach in knots. I truly fear for the country if Obama is NOT elected. Yes, it looks like he's in. But let's face it, given the treachery of the Gore/Bush election...well, there's this sense of "how might this election be tampered with" hanging in the air.

I don't like McCain. Well, actually--he seems like a pretty nice guy when he's not talking politics. Loved his SNL spot, and the Martha Stewart appearance in an apron. A good sport. But his political stance has no hope of healing the ills this country is experiencing--it will further and intensify them. His political ideals are WHY we're in trouble. And the idea of Sarah Palin becoming president, the obvious LIKELIHOOD of that happening if he's/they're elected today...well, I can't breathe for the absolute terror of that thought. Sure, she's independent and spunky--but nobody who actually LISTENS  to what she's saying while she's displaying those qualities can perceive her as anything other than mis-informed, politically uneducated, and a loose cannon. We CANNOT give her access to nuclear weapons. Or foreign policy. 

So. Please vote. Now. For Obama. I'm headed to the polls now to do my part.