Peak experiences, post-peak experiences

Sometimes you have an experience so wonderful that you know it can never be equalled or bettered. Or, at least, you're pretty sure it's the Best Ever.

What do you do after that?

Especially when you've got a tendency to see the glass half empty. And an overdeveloped talent for harsh comparison.  Do you decide to opt out of repeats because they are guaranteed to disappoint?

I say not. Do it again!

Last year I was privileged to sing in an amazing performance of the Brahms Requiem in Carnegie Hall. This isn't unique - there were nearly 200 of us! But by every measure a chorus singer can use, it was a supreme peak experience.

This year I was also privileged to be invited to sing (almost) the same music with a couple of suburban community choirs. After sorting a few logistics questions, I leapt at the opportunity.

It was not New York. By a wide margin. By turns, that difference was painful, frustrating, funny. I also discovered the difference was also irrelevant. So what, if this time round the experience is not going to be equal or better than last time?

That "can't match the peak" experience had its own unique and valuable qualities. I had a chance to sing again with some old friends, to build some new friendships, to see the challenges of the music resolved in a different way. It was a privilege. I was singing the Brahms Requiem for the 3rd time in 3 years! We never know when these chances will come again

And when we clambered up the scaffolding in one venue, and squeezed into the church pews in another, we were all motivated with the same love of the music, love of the audience, love of the conductor, love of each other as collaborators in creating the beautiful fleeting magic that is live music.

It's ALWAYS a Peak Experience if you do it with passion and joy

Blogging every day of June?

well, not so much. Life got so interesting to experience there was little time to write.

There was, in no particular order:

singing in Carnegie Hall,

shopping in SoHo - 5 pairs of shoes & nearly 3 specs frames,

art at the Guggenheim, with a side-order of deepening friendship, an opportunity to share timethat real life at home would never allow,

antiquitity and fearsome modernity at the Met, with another friendly bonus,

dancing to the blues till the small hours of the morning,

joining a party and having a fun little flirtation,

a glimpse of what's the big deal of mirrored buildings

...and all this before I got to the really serious bit. It will be weeks before it's all caught up. Patience, grasshoppers

In love with a fictional character - 6th blog of Christmas

How i adore and long for this mystery person... Who perceives and admires me, who values my struggle, who cherishes my gifts and accepts my flaws.

Sometimes I'm sad because this person isn't a part of my life. Other times I rejoice that they are all around and within me.

At the very moment that I mourn something lacking, I can choose to see with different eyes, and discover that the missing element was there all along.

1st blog of Christmas

This Christmas is a scrap quilt. 


The background changed several times, and each part of the day brought together partial family groups. 

All unified by the common threads of courtesy, generosity and love. 

Scrap quilts are always the warmest.