10 Year Itch

I'm baaaaaaaaaaaack! I love when I accidentally post more than once in the same week. Okay, month. Whatever. I have a story to tell you today and I will do it, come rain or shine! And it's "come rain" in this case, cause it's sprinkling outside. As you know (?), I graduated from Holland Hall in 2001. I was a Walter Arts Center (WAC) rat and spent most of my time there singing, dancing, sometimes acting, and playing the violin. I remember the feel of that place and the fun I used to have performing on that big stage. Last night I went back and, after ten years of absence, sang on the stage again. Our beloved choir accompanist, Ms. Shank, is retiring from Holland Hall and our choir director invited alumni to join the current choir students and sing her farewell. Believe it or not, when it came time to go onstage, my heart was pounding furiously. I was so nervous! I've been on that stage dozens of times. I've danced solos, played solos, sung solos. I'm no stranger to the bright lights but WOW was I nervous to sing with all those little kids who look so much younger than when I was their age. Wow, what ten years will do to your perspective. We sang a John Rutter piece that was sweet and easy, which is good since I was sightreading. Yeesh, my voice is out of shape.

It's funny to watch all these performances and inevitably compare my own to each one. Things were different ten years ago, yet I still feel at home in the WAC. I'm glad I'm not in high school anymore, but I did have such good times there. I miss dancing and singing and performing with all my friends. Nostalgia is funny that way. I remember the way the stage looked when the spots were low and we were running to take our places. I remember frantically changing costumes in the wings because I was one of the few students in every part of the show. I remember laughing with my fellow performers when something would go wrong. We were all in on the joke and the audience was just lucky to get to watch us enjoy ourselves. Last night I was watching these 18-year old kids and they were laughing at their own inside jokes. I thought, "What's so funny? I want to be a part of this! You may not know me, but I've done this, too! I've been where you are!" Give them ten years and they'll know how I feel. It's not a bad feeling by any means. It's a little bit warm, a bit melancholy, but wholly satisfying. I'm glad I'm where I am now. I generally love being an adult. But sometimes it's just good to be a kid. Oh, and Ms. Shank? We'll miss you.

April Showers a.k.a. I forgot about hail

"What's your favorite thing about spring?" That was our introductory, get-to-know-you icebreaker in class on Sunday. I think about half the people in class said they loved thunderstorms most of all. At first I was tempted to agree. I do love those huge claps of thunder. I surely like those flashes of lightning that illuminate the sky. Even tornadoes have that excitement factor, if you don't mind your property being destroyed by a whirling cyclone. However, as I lay in my bed Friday night, looking up at the skylight - completely unable to see because I'd taken off my glasses - I heard another sound amidst the thunder and rain. It sounded like popcorn on my roof. Oh yeah, that other part of storms...hail. What the hail. In Oklahoma (as in other places, no doubt) they measure hail in terms of sports things. Golf ball-sized, baseball-sized. Doesn't matter, no one wants any sort of spherical hard thing pelting their cars from the sky. I was so happy listening to the rain that night until I heard that popcorn sound and thought, "oh no, my poor car." That's the part of a storm I can do without, athankyouverymuch. Oh well. I'm back in Oklahoma and that's what I get.

Happy Easter Monday, by the way. I'm celebrating this day by blogging and looking out at the rain falling on the pond in the backyard of my work. Pretty soothing. And by soothing I mean makes-me-want-to-nap.

Where did the time go, by the way? How have I been in Tulsa THREE WHOLE MONTHS as of today? Happy monthiversary to me. I now shall tell you of my weekend. I painted. A lot. My third monthiversary was commemorated in latex paint. That is, I spent a good portion of the weekend painting walls and ceilings and ruining a pair of jeans and getting a big splotch of paint on my hair since I leaned into a freshly painted wall without thinking. Proof:




I helped a friend paint her bedroom, and I helped my church paint someone's house. The latter location is where I picked up the hair paint. And some poison ivy. I blame the shockingly friendly dogs who no doubt frolicked in a poison ivy patch before jumping all over me. Ah, spring.

You know what else is happening this year? My 10 year high school reunion. I am shocked at my own age. I don't feel like I've been out of high school 10 years. Well, sometimes I don't. But apparently I've reached that age. 28. I'm not one to fear getting older. I relish it. Even so, I still have the ability to "feel old". Quit rolling your eyes, people older than I. You know you were there once. Empathize. So yeah, I have that to look forward to in three weeks - catching up with former schoolmates and explaining to everyone what exactly has happened in my life in the last decade. Being a decade older than high school means that my wedding attendance schedule has been whittled down to just a handful a summer, and that my baby shower attendance schedule has ratcheted up exponentially in the past year or so. Eh, works for me. Shopping for babies is much more fun than shopping for adults. Plus, I can't offer to babysit at wedding showers. People look at me weird. Now I give a babysitting coupon book and recipients get emotionally overwhelmed with my generosity and start crying and hug me. Okay, that's a lie, but my offers to babysit are well received when there are babies to sit. Shhhh.

I think now I've been in Tulsa long enough to have finished "settling in." Besides the fact that I really do need to sift through my storage unit and get out some useful items, I'm pretty well set at the 'rents house. I'm slowly but surely learning how to do my job properly, and I've had that first round of friend reunions. Now I'm getting into the routine mode and figuring out what new activities I might have time for...I'm keeping those violin lessons on hold. I did renew my gym membership so I can hate myself for wasting money again. Just kidding. I'm actually using it. But good grief, it sure makes a difference in my fitness when I'm not walking to and from the metro daily. Can we install a metro station about a mile from my house so I can get my accidental workouts everyday, please? Thanks.

I'm done rambling for now. See ya.