Yesterday was such a great day it spilled right over to today. What a blessing!

I did not get paged Saturday night, which was a good thing, since I slept like the dead and don’t think I could have driven back to the hospital safely. Sunday morning I was at church at 7:45, a little later than I wanted, but still before the choir needed to warm-up.

The Senior choir did a marvelous job with the Carolyn Jennings “The Kingdom of God” and I was pleased with the way the rest of the hymns fit with the sermon and seemed to resonate with the congregation. It was also amazing when the organist dropped out on the middle stanza of “For All the Saints” and the assembly sang unaccompanied in harmony. It always takes my breath away when they do that here, and it happens often. The service was long because of it being All Saints Sunday and the addition of the remembering of those who have died this past year. This church also has an opportunity during the service for those assembled to remember others, by lighting a candle. It a nice piety and a pretty sight with all those candles lit, but it takes time. I had trimmed some out of the service, but what with a stewardship message during the announcements and communion, it still took about 75 minutes.

The high school choir sang at the second service. This service promised to go even longer because it included Confirmation (Affirmation of Baptism). The confirmation class was 8, so not too big and not too small. We had trimmed even more out of the service (including the announcements) but again, with communion, the service went about 80 minutes.

So that meant I got home about 1:00. Pretty tired, but the boys weren’t home so instead of trying to cook something, I laid down for a little nap.

My plan yesterday was to go to two concerts. The first was a wind quintet concert at church. Part of the concert series and actually the concert my accordion quintet was supposed to share, but the group was not able to commit so had to withdraw. The second one was the National Lutheran Choir All Saints concert. I had contemplated asking someone to attend with me, but decided that I would go alone and just enjoy the music for myself. Still, a girl has got to dress up…just in case

I slept a little long and so arrived in the church just about 2 measures into the first piece. I found an aisle seat in the back. As I was standing, scanning the rows for a seat with better sight lines, I remember thinking “hmmm, that guy looks attractive from the back…sort of like SaxMan, in a way.”

Y’all know what’s coming, right? At intermission, I stand up to go and greet congregation members who are there (remember, this is at the church where I am the music director, and even though I am not responsible for the concert series, it’s important to be seen in attendance.) I glance over to the other side of the audience and sure enough…it was the SaxMan!

I have to admit, that despite my best efforts at remaining “cool” I was shaking with nerves. When he and his party (he was chatting with a man and a woman) walked past me (I was near the door to the narthex/lobby) I joked “what are you, stalking me?” with a grin and a wink.

Turns out he was with his (married) friends S&L. S knew the horn player in the quintet and was there on his invitation. We chatted amiably during intermission. I showed L where the restrooms were. I showed them all the current photo exhibit, and told them about my conversation in the morning with the photographer. SaxMan said, he wondered if he would see me here, but wasn’t sure that this was the church where I worked. As we wandered back into the church for the second half of the concert, we returned to our respective seats and agreed to talk after the concert.

The second half was great, too. Afterwards I went out and greeted my friend in the quintet (who is also the chair of the worship commission.) S&L and SaxMan came out and S went over to greet his friend, the horn player. It seems S&L needed to run off to a soccer banquet for their youngest. SaxMan did not run out with them and we chatted for a bit. He asked what I was doing next and I told him that I was planning on getting a bite to eat before going to another concert and asked him if could join me. He could, so we met over at a little neighborhood bar for a burger and beer and another really nice, silly, fun, intelligent, caring, intimate, (sometimes) serious, flirty conversation.

I shared a bit about what on-call had been like. He shared a bit about his concerns for his daughter while he needs to go on a business trip this week. And other stuff.

At about 6:20 I said I needed to get going if I was going to make it to the next concert. He walked me out to my car. We stood (in the moonlight–sorry, but I did notice) by the car and kissed a little and the waitress came running out of the restaurant with my leftovers that I forgot on the table. She actually was flustered and apologized for “interrupting.” It was pretty funny and we laughed.

One of his parting remarks was “I’ll be in text range from Wednesday to Wednesday.”

I was a couple of measures late for the NLC concert too. But the NLC takes lateness seriously, so had to wait in the lobby until after the second piece. What a gorgeous concert! The beauty of the sound washing over me was palpable. Healing.

Afterwards, I greeted my friend ZH who is the choir director at Westwood and is in charge of their concert series. AH, his wife, didn’t make it to the concert because she was not feeling too well. SH was there. I saw PB and talked with him for a bit. RS was there. She has done such a great job with helping Cherwien re-craft the sound of this choir. I told them both how great the sound was and how different it was.

SH teased me a bit about SaxMan (I had told him about my dating escapades last Thursday when we went out for dinner). ZH was stunned. “Who is motorcycle kilt man???!!!”

So, of course we all had to go out for a beer to bring him up to speed. I related it all to him before RS or BJ got there…not everybody needs to know I’ve been making out in the car in a parking ramp! It was pretty funny, really. His response was delight for me as well as the expected ribbing about going from “Zero to 60 in about three seconds! How many dates have you been on? And how many with the kilt guy? Oh, A is going to be soooo sorry she missed this!”

I sort of wonder about guys’ reaction to the fact that SaxMan (occasionally, not all the time!) wears a kilt. Not sure what that’s all about. But it’s curious.

Anyway, being out with my “support” group, hearing 2 beautiful concerts and bumping into a cute guy that I like and that likes me back and having an impromptu dinner date was a great day of self-care in my book. Feeling like I was looking good, was extra icing on the cake.

— — —
A year ago (or longer) on This Journey…

crazy friday: fail 2009
Boxed in 2008
Be Thankful and Appreciate The Good in Life 2007

November 6th, 2006 | Category: CPE, dating, friends, music | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL