Taking flight...

So on Easter evening my grandmother took a trip....literally. She went to open a screen door and the wind caught it--thus flying her out with the door and she smacked into the concrete ground. Her outlook was dim and I was called to the hospital back home. She's dealing with some internal bleeding, a broken nose, and an unrecognizable face. I feel awful for her. I walked in the room and got a "You look great" through swollen eyes. I responded with "Aw, you look ...great...too." "Liar" she said. I love my grandma. Her prognosis improved yesterday and I think she's going to pull through, despite looking like a character out of Return of the Mummy 2.

All of this while I'm trying to make sure I have the opera memorized next week. It brought to my attention, yet again, the pull between family and singing. It's hard when you are a lead character in an opera with no understudy. When emergencies happen you don't know what to do. When there are several people in the cast plus instrumentalists involved, which way do you turn. The same happened on Easter morning. This was the first year that I didn't go home for the holiday. It felt strange. Easter lunch at a bar in Topeka didn't really equate to a homemade Easter dinner with the family. I think this pull is something that many musicians and artists feel. Holiday seasons are typically our busiest times, and many times, our families don't understand why we say we can't make it home.

I'm glad I went home yesterday and was there to help Grandma take her first few bites of "real" food--jello. It felt like an odd circle of life moment.