A SNAPSHOT
You never know where life is going to take you.
At the moment, my father-in-law is recovering from the flu, and my brother-in-law is in the hospital recovering from surgery. My mother-in-law is recovering from the stress of it all.
Our niece is coming to visit us in March, as is my friend from Nashville along with her husband – possibly overlapping each other’s visits. That would be more than fine, except that in terms of space, we are kind of in a bind. The room we used to use for a makeshift guest quarter has been cleared out, since we moved the furniture downstairs to our new studio. The only place for anyone to sleep in our house at the moment (besides our own room) is on the sofa in the living room or in a sleeping bag on the floor. Experience has taught us that this is a less-than-ideal situation, both for the guest and for the hosts.
Last night I was signed up for a seminar for aspiring writers on how to sell your articles to newspapers and magazines. Since the seminar was way over on the other side of town, where my mom lives, I decided to stop by her apartment first, pick her up and take her to dinner. We had a very nice early dinner at a sweet little Italian restaurant, and I dropped her back home. Then, when I drove up to the building where the seminar was being held, the street was completely dark. There were no parking places anywhere near the building. I was feeling kind of flu-ish. So I went home. (Lost my tuition in the bargain, but I figured it was better than walking the dark streets at 10:00 at night).
On my way home, I tuned in to the classical music station. They were playing the most extraordinary recording of “Rhapsody In Blue” by George Gershwin. I was stunned. I was sure that it was some very modern recording conceived and created by some musical wunderkind. Wrong. As it turns out, it was a 1934 recording of the London Philharmonic conducted by Mitch Miller! (Yes, that Mitch Miller – the one who had the television show in the sixties called “Sing Along With Mitch”. At the time, he seemed like a total dork to me). Sadly, the record is out of print, and the only way to get it was to pledge $10.00 a month to the radio station. I couldn’t quite justify that.
We got a call this morning from our son, and he is planning to come and visit us this evening. He will most likely stay overnight, since his home is a long train ride from here. He may wind up staying even longer; depending on the reason he has decided to come for a visit. (One never knows with grown children).
Meanwhile, I feel like I am either fighting off the flu, or I’m having an allergic reaction to something in the air. I’m not sure which. We live in California, and there’s always something exotic in bloom here, but it is flu season, too. I’ve been dosing myself with echinacea and astragalus just in case it’s really the flu. But I took some Benedryl last night just in case it’s allergies. The result is that my head is a little fuzzy from all the medication.
Maybe it’s the medication talking, but I’m seriously considering calling the radio station to see if I can still get one of those records.
© 2005, Robin Munson