At the End of Week Two..

For having no "normal" agenda, it is amazing how full a week can be!! I am just slightly over halfway finished with my time in this lovely place, focused on my writing...

So this week, I had some struggles with losing my focus and being blocked in my writing. In those moments, I was able to focus on reading, which allowed me some productivity, as it was reading I needed to do. I read some fascinating material on how we learn musical skills, thanks to a former Illinois professor, Daniel Kohut. I found a good deal of resonance with many of his ideas. And then I read Shinichi Suzuki's Nurtured By Love, which is the story of how the Suzuki method of teaching was developed. It was quite a moving book, and helpful for me, since all I really knew about the Suzuki method was the endless repetitions of "Twinkle, Twinkle..." :-)

I did make some progress on writing, but it was Friday, where some really important things really came together. I was pretty frustrated and finally, I was walking around this place, and I started praying out loud, reminding the Lord that He had called me to this project and I needed his help because I was really stuck (some of you know the story how this whole book project came out of a sense of the Lord's guidance at the beginning of this whole process). Anyway, it was maybe 20 minutes later that I was writing the section about 2-mallets and all of a sudden the whole organization of my material became quite clear and because of that I was able to make sense of the organization of what I was writing at the time. I started furiously writing and after about an hour, I stopped and realized that a whole lot had come into place.. I know this sounds ridiculously vague, but the details would bore you and the bottom line was that I was ecstatic, because there was a whole lot of material that I couldn't figure out how to organize and it all just came together! After dinner, I continued to write until about 10pm and put it away with a great deal of satisfaction and thankfulness!!

Along with that wonderful experience, the weekend was fabulous. On Saturday morning I headed north to Hickory, North Carolina to visit a good friend who teaches at Lenoir-Rhyne College. He has been going through some really tough times, so it was good to sit and talk with him and enjoy the beautiful day - and eat some local barbeque!! Mmmmm..

Then today, I visited the Church of the Apostles in downtown Columbia where Chip Edgar is the rector. I first met Chip in my music appreciation class and he was quite the character (which is why I remembered him). Later, he became a priest in the Episcopal Church, and ministered in Wheaton for a time. They left for South Carolina 7 years ago and it was the friend I had lunch with two weeks ago who reminded me he was here - even though she couldn't remember his name! So I found him online and went this morning! The service was very uplifting and lunch with the family was so fun...I really appreciated being with Chip and Beth and their kids - it was a good time.

The day finished with a visit to one of my first percussion majors (who graduated in the mid-70's). He and his family are in Augusta, GA - less than an hour away from where I am staying. He teaches percussion at UGA and marching band at a big high school outside of Augusta. We had a wonderful conversation over dinner, catching up on 35 years of life! It was a fabulous way to end the weekend! I continue to be thankful for these moments which have allowed me to connect with friends in the midst of the very solitary work I am doing during the week. I am blessed!!

Since tomorrow is a holiday and since I was given a free pass to see the Biltmore House in Asheville, NC, I'm going to drive north and take my extended weekend. I really, really like this idea of just working during the week and having the weekend off!

Thanks for reading! I hope you have a great week!