Tuesday morning, we were out in the garden working on the tomatoes. Received a phone call from a fellow ward member/neighbor. He's been asked to sing at a funeral on Thursday, would I accompany him? Can I see the music?
He quickly brought over the three songs as well as some apples from his orchard. I think I can do this. Great, he says.
I spent the next couple days nearly glued to the piano. I so love my piano. Hours of practicing definitely helped, though I wished for a couple more days to polish things up. I don't learn new songs as quickly as I used to. My hands already ache a lot of the time. It's hard on my back and neck (yup, tenseness) to sit for so long on our bench.
Got to the funeral and remembered that most piano benches are w-a-y too low for me. Forgot to take something to sit on. Messed up royally on a couple of measures that had been troublesome in practice (though I worked and worked on them). But only a couple measures fumbled from the three songs we did isn't too bad. People were kind and said they didn't notice, but I'm guessing they probably did notice and chose to overlook the mistakes. I keep reminding myself that service of any kind is an offering. I hope my willingness will overshadow my lack of ability. Was actually happy to be invited to help. A reason to play some new music is pretty much always welcomed.
And the other day The Husband noticed a car pulling up in front. Went to the door to greet another ward member/neighbor. I so wish we'd had more time to visit. They were dropping off a couple mini-bundt cakes from Nothing Bundt Cakes. They said it was because I sent the two of them birthday cards. Not sure of the real reason other than that they are kind people. It was so wonderful to see some familiar smiles. I had to learn (really had to consciously work on it) to be more physically affectionate as I got older. Wasn't exposed to hugs and casual loving touches at all when I was growing up. And here I am - all these years later - missing the hugs from friends. But seeing smiles and chatting: can't be beat during this dangvirus weirdness.
It was a bit of a day yesterday. Started off with a visit with an insurance guy that's going to help us continue to navigate Medicare and the supplements. Then straight to the mortuary for the funeral. Tried to physically distance as much as we could. Used multiple wipes to safeguard ourselves. The funeral was long. By the time it was over, we were hungry (it'd been a long time since our early breakfast). Decided to treat ourselves to some bbq. What fun it was to sit out on their covered patio and have a meal I didn't cook. We were the only customers there at the time so it felt safe. Well, safe enough.
Since we didn't walk in the morning, decided to return the music to the singer and walk at the same time. What would normally have taken 45 minutes or so took us just shy of 2 hours. Didn't make it down the block before running into a neighbor outside. Stop and talk. Then at the end of the block ran into a sister from the ward and her daughter. Stop and talk. Walk a little and still talk. Return the music. Talk a little more. Turn the trail corner toward home and think we see (in the dusk) our friends from the ward. Stop and talk. And talk. Even more talk. And I'm not even a very social person!!
But really, ended up being so grateful for some interaction with real people. Not just store employees or people in businesses. Real familiar people. Yes - lovely.
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