When I was growing up there was a woman at our church who cried at everything; every Christmas pageant, baptism, confirmation, or program, the woman was an emotional mess, and just like anything that I may have rolled my eyes at in one point in my life, it has come back to haunt me. I have turned into that woman. Case in point: Music Monday.
“I saw you crying during Lean On Me,” Mark mentioned to me, and of course he did. The kids are still at the point where they check to see if I’m in the audience, wave, and watch me while they are singing. And I will tell you this: 560 kids singing Lean On Me and Is Somebody Singing will have me verklempt every single time. Fortunately the kids also had a recorder performance, which served – for me – to be a bit of comic relief. I will simply say that their classes are not talented recorder players, although it wasn’t as hilarious as the kazoo version of Yellow Submarine. The music teacher must be some kind of Zen master.
Much less funny was the scene looking out my back door on Saturday morning:
Please note how the sky is the same colour as the ground.
Lalalala, it was still snowing this morning…
Mayday, Mayday! My Mayday tree was weighted down with snow until the wind picked up, and never have I been so happy for wind gusts.
Last year on Music Monday it was unusually hot; it was held outside and I was wearing a tank top, and I remember Mark having a little allergy attack due to the blooming poplar trees. Well, the upside here is that no one got a sunburn. Sob.
No, it’s not unusual to get snow in May but there has been so little reprieve this winter. Eight months of snow.
On a much cheerier note, it’s Meme Monday! My darling friend Allison came up with the questions and I am more than happy to answer them, rather than talk about the fact I wore my winter coat and scarf to walk the dog this morning, and I’m fighting a head cold and am a little bit high on Advil Cold and Sinus.
Meme Monday: The Emotional, Head Cold, Snow In May, and I Love Allison Edition
1) What was your favourite subject in school?
In high school, it was definitely calculus, although I also loved drama and English. I liked high school biology because – strangely enough – I liked dissecting things. I know! It seems weird to me too. I liked stoichiometry in chemistry as well, but I really loved calculus; so clean and calming, with steps that led to the right answer. There’s just something I love about coming to the right answer with the right steps, and I feel like I should extrapolate that into a larger topic but, like I said, I’m kind of high on Advil Cold and Sinus right now. I also loved writing “QED” at the end of an answer and I feel like I should incorporate “QED” in my life more often. My high school math teacher would say that math is a journey and that the tools we use are for in our toolbox for success. Again, I may be a little bit high right now but that seems like a metaphor for life.
2) How did you meet your spouse?
We met when he was in grad school and I was an undergraduate, and I remember my first thought upon meeting him: wow, a good looking guy in ECONOMICS?
3) Coffee or tea?
SO MUCH COFFEE. I drink a ton of coffee, but only before 10:30 am. After that, it’s water all the way. I do like tea but I have it only rarely, mostly because I seem to be too lazy to put the kettle on, steep it, and all that. I love buying Yogi tea because each tea bag has an inspirational saying on it, often in the manner of Jack Handy. Sometimes I read the inspirational sayings to myself, ending with “in bed”, the way people used to do with fortune cookies, and it makes me laugh. Clearly, I need to get out more.
4) Public speaking – no big deal, or would you rather die?
I don’t mind public speaking. This may or may not surprise you, but I don’t mind being “on stage”, so to speak.
5) That spider crawling up the water spout – is it “eensy weensy” or “itsy bitsy”?
Itsy bitsy, for sure.
Want to play along? Answer the questions in the comments or on your blog, if you’re a blogger. Meme Mondays – retro blogging at its finest!
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Speaking of retro, on the weekend I met up with a bunch of lovely people from my graduating class. Colin Maier, who is a talented oboeist, is having a Kickstarter campaign to generate funds to record and release his second CD. Click here to pledge! He’s a great guy and it’s sure to be an awesome CD. Every little bit helps.
Oh nothing. Just me hanging out with the famously talented Colin Maier.
SO GLAD you said itsy bitsy! This is a hill I will die on. Also, the choir went to sing at the National Arts Centre today for Music Monday, and Eve (who isn’t in the choir, much to my chagrin, but since the blow-up I had with Angus when HE quit, I’m trying to let go a little) said that it was so hot there five kids fainted, two threw up and three had asthma attacks. Then they decided to turn on the air conditioning.
Hope your city and your head are clear (of snow and snot) soonest.
If it was still snowing here, I would refuse to leave my bed. I don’t remember when it finally stopped, maybe a month ago. (Shudders at the memory.)
I’m not a crier, but the Lean On Me thing would do me in. Yeowza.
As for the snow… yeah. It snowed on my birthday – April 29th – and that was bad enough. It’s been cold since, and I’m stubborn and refuse to turn on the heat anymore BECAUSE IT IS MAY FFS, so I’ve been freezing for six days now.
I clearly recall making fun of my mom when she cried at Terms of Endearment because I was much too young to appreciate that movie. Well, karma is a bitch because that movie makes me ugly cry every time I watch it, like hug, gulping sobs. Plus now I cry at all kinds of movies. Hell I cried at the season finale of The Vampire Diaries a couple of years ago. I was embarrassed about it, but it didn’t stop me from crying. My kids find it hilarious. So, basically life has come full circle (insert Disney song that will probably make me cry here).
I love QED too! It’s so satisfying to write at the end, signifying that everything is logical and tidy. I even say “quod erat demonstrandum” in my head because it feels badass.