Utter Bliss

I'm home. In Washington. Home.

I snoozed a little on the plane from DFW. When I woke up, I looked down and saw mountains. Mountains! Square mile after square mile of forested mountains. After watching for a few minutes, I realized we were over the Blue Ridge Mountains. I saw mountaintops dusted with snow. And I saw Skyline Drive, where I have hiked. I saw the Shenandoah River, where I have canoed. I saw fall leaves from above. We flew over horse country and then swung around and came up the Potomac. Gorgeous fall Washington day, flying into my city fills me with elation.

I arrived at National around 4:00, picked up a cute little white Grand Prix, and headed down 395 to the Marriott Courtyard Pentagon South. When I got to the exit (slowly, Friday afternoon traffic plus a three-van accident on 395), I decided to go over to Northern Virginia Community College to find Schlesinger Hall while it was still daylight. As I drove past the hall, I saw an old friend walking in and called hello to her.

Then went to my hotel, where they didn't have a reservation for me. Oh, guess I forgot to make the reservation! I've never done that before. Quickly made a reservation, and they put me in a lovely room on the top floor. As I walked into my room, I could see through the west-facing window the purple sunset. Gorgeous, fall sunset.

I quickly changed clothes and went back over to the hall, where I received hug after hug from friends I've known for 23 years. It was wonderful. Once they went on stage to warm up, I ran to get some dinner, then came back to the hall to see more old friends.

The concert was fabulous. The orchestra came on, then the concertmaster entered and they tuned. Then the chorus filed in and the audience started applauding, and continued applauding until the entire chorus was onstage. The chorus sat. then the soloists and Bob Shafer entered. The audience applauded at great length. Bob then spoke to the audience, thanking them for attending the premier concert of The City Choir of Washington and spoke for a few minutes about the work that was being performed.

Then he turned around and started the concert, and all I could think was this man has so much music still inside him, how could the Washington Chorus board ever think he was ready to step down and be emeritus?!

When the intermission ended and the chorus reentered, again the audience applauded. When the chorus was all in place, the applause swelled and continued for a minute or so.

The instant the last note was sung, there were shouts of "Bravo" and cheers and applause that went on and on.

As the concert was drawing to a close, all I could think of was what we had all gone through for the past year to arrive at tonight's concert. A lot of tears have been shed, a lot of anger has been felt, and it all paid off. All the work came down to one fabulous concert and a great deal of joy.

It's about time!