And all that jazz...

The title isn't very relevant, but I felt like saying it. Sometimes that phrase completes a sentence so nicely. :-) Maybe because I'm a musician. Not that I've played much jazz or listened to much jazz. I do have a little weakness for the older jazz of Benny Goodman and Gershwin plus the swing of Glenn Miller, but I can't stand the "elevator" jazz music, and Kenny G. has definitely got to go! Okay, end of rant.

Last week got off to a bad start. I woke up on Monday morning feeling like I hadn't woken up, and the feeling didn't wear off with time. I felt excessively fatigued the first half of the week. I think it was a combination of sleep shortage, sugar overdose, and stress. Maybe the change of season, too. (No, ladies, it's not hormones.) On Tuesday night I bawled my eyes out about an "issue," which is quite unusual for me. Then on Wednesday afternoon I went in for a haircut and my hairstylist asked me several times if I was okay. I assured her that I was simply very tired, but she said I looked sad. I wasn't feeling sad, so I tried to be a little more perky and conversational, but I don't think I was very convincing. She's trying to match me up with some 27 year-old pilot she knows. He's tall and apparently looking for a wife, and she thinks we'd be cute together, so what more do I want? She didn't know if he was a Christian or not. I politely said "hmmm," but didn't bite on the bait. It was rather awkward. What am I supposed to say? "Yeah, sure, set us up for a blind date. I'm sure he's simply wonderful because you say he is." OR "You know, he'd probably decide within ten minutes that I'm a prudish religious freak and he'd be outta there. I'm not the type most guys go for." Oh, well, I thanked her for her concern, and made up the excuse that I'm really too busy right now anyway.

My energy improved near the end of the week as I limited the sugar and got a little more sleep. Didn't get some other things done I'd wanted to, but that's the way the cookie crumbles sometimes. The weekend has been fairly full. Yesterday I played at a Mother/Daughter retreat. There were probably about 200 ladies there and all were Christian homeschoolers. I played background music for the lunch and then a later dessert. Speakers encouraged the women and girls to embrace God's design for femininity, homekeeping, hospitality, and ministering to those around us. It was a precious group of ladies all dressed up in "tea finery." During the dessert time at the end, a veritable flock of young girls began to gather around me as I played. As it turned out, some of them had harps and/or were taking harp lessons. But they were all magnetized to the harp and me, apparently. When I played a few songs from "The Sound of Music" they would sing along. Then I got requests for other songs that they also sang with (including a few Christmas songs!). Some of them got so close I could barely move my arms. The cameras were flashing to capture this sweet scene. One little girl especially captured my heart when she slipped her little soft arm around my neck and looked at me tenderly. They were all so darling! I decided I want to have at least four little girls some day. There is something so special about little girls. Little boys are cute, too, so maybe I'll have a couple of those, but I especially want little girls!

I'm getting braces soon! Well, they're not really braces in the traditional bands and wires sense. It's called InvisiLine or something like that. I will wear a series of clear plates that fit over my teeth to accomplish the desired effect. I've needed braces for years, but finances and my own antipathy toward dentistry have been major deterrants. I wasn't thrilled at the idea of wearing a mouthful of metal at my age and as a singer, so I was happy when my dentist told me about this new alternative. My dad trades work for her services, so he'll pay for most of it that way and I'll pay for some of it, too. My bite won't be perfect, but after 18 months it should be better. I'll be glad to get it done, but I'm not looking forward to it. I hate going to the dentist. And of course I have bad teeth that force me to go at least twice a year. And of course I have the kind of mouth with super strong nerves that don't respond well to numbing. Never fails. She sticks this frightening looking needle into the back of my mouth and injects the stuff while I resist the impulse to kick and scream. Then when it APPEARS that I'm all numb she starts the drilling and soon encounters some very live nerve which quickly alerts my brain that it's unhappy. My body twitches and I let out a grunt of pain. Surprised every time, the dentist adminsters another painful needleful of numbing agent. Usually works pretty well then, and my mouth is numb for the next 8 hours or so. I keep telling her just to knock me on the back of the head first and tell me when it's over.