Symphonic Send off

I am going to Palm Springs to meet with my writing group, Skywriters. I am going even though I'm tired and overwhelmed at work and not sure if spending the money for travel is wise right now. because I love these women, many of whom have had hard years. I skipped the retreat last year because Liam and Andrea had both just been born and I felt too vulnerable about their newness to leave. I still believer I made the right choice for me, but I know I was missed and I'm a little less connected to my sisters in writing because I made that choice to stay home. Also, one Sky sister, Dolly, who was there last year in Florida, died last spring. I don't think I ever let her know how much I respected her life and her poetry. So I'm going this year, whether it's a smart decision or not.

I'm going by train because my sweet Bob, who understands me and the depths of my anxiety about making arrangements and buying tickets, and who accepts but does not understand my aversion to plane travel, made all the arrangements to go by train. He also sent me off in glory and on a high. He took Friday off from teaching and drove to Austin to take me to the symphony - and what a symphony, and then to drive me to San Antonio and put me on the early morning train. The symphony started with Rachmaninoff's Vocalise Op 34 No 14 and then the same composer's Piano Concerto No 3 in D Minor with Barbara Nissman in regal scarlet silk as soloist. WOW!! My mother loved and p[ayed Rachmaninoff, and played his music well, but this performance just soared. I don't see how a person can make an instrument sing like that. I struggled so hard just to get the notes right (even half speed) in much simpler pieces. Brilliant musical performance seems at least as "paranormal" to me as any sixth sense intuition,