All Going By in a Blur

And then, five minutes later…

This is the sight quite frequently seen these days from a train window – the weather in flux. That lovely bright sky and all of those clouds scudding by can, with a breath’s notice, reform into a storm front, dump an inch of hail, and then, go back to their wee separate little cotton-ball-ic states. And we, in the fishbowl of offices and vehicles watch the transformation happen again and again. Flux. Change. Nothing stays the same.

This is to update many of you to what’s going on in our lives. First, thank you to those of you who have indicated that you will NOT be “asking the question,” that is, “where are you going?” which has lately been amended to include the phrase, “what will you do?” As promised, as soon as we have an answer to that question, we’ll let you know. In the meantime, even asking our parents and siblings is not going to garner you a response; they don’t know either.

What facts we do know are these: a.) Our biometric data will be taken on May 1. After that point, we may assume that the UKBA will AT LONG LAST release to us again our passports so that we can leave the blessed country. b.) On May 15th, we will be out of the house wherein we currently reside, as it has sold from beneath us. AGAIN. We’ll draw a veil over our kvetching on that score, and the question of where we’re going. We have friends, they have couches. c.) D. will at some point find a job which both interests him and pays well. Until that time he will work at the one he has, until he reaches the end of his contract in June, and we d.) board the plane the first week in June, and go home to the top half of our former State.

No, we don’t know how long we can stay. No, we don’t know if we’re moving back to the Bay Area. Yes, it is a shame about the economy and the job situation, and yes, we can discuss this with you as long as we could discuss the weather with a Scottish person but unfortunately we’ve found talking about it effects just as much influence on it as one has on the weather. Yes, we are a bit stressed; this has freaked us out and made us feel pushed and frantic, motion sick and heartsick and that everything is going by in a blur. Yes. Thank you. We will cope. There are on offer no other options…

Though we said that Easter was our “last hurrah,” and after that we’d pack, last weekend we had company as well. Slowly, our friends are coming by to spend quiet time with us – or inviting us to theirs “before things get frantic.” (Well, we think it’s a bit late for that one.) Many goodbyes are being said, which is just casting a slight tinge of melancholy over the inevitable, as we not only wonder where we’re going, but who we’ll have when we get there. Strange to think we’ve been in Scotland now for four years and eight months. We will be leaving just shy of year five.

Doesn’t seem possible it could have been so long, does it?

This weekend is a big concert for which we feel sure we’d be perfectly ready if only we had one more rehearsal – well, one more rehearsal which wasn’t dress rehearsal with an additional children’s choir, soloists, and full orchestra. Adding to the slightly manic air of fun at the Abbey this weekend will be the presence of a producer from BBC’s Radio 4, who will be interviewing singers for the mini-program for Inside Health, a section this time with the eminent Dr. McCartney, otherwise known as “our superb second soprano, Margaret.” T. has been specifically asked for an interview since she has a “lovely accent,” so will endeavor to do her best to sound as Californian as possible. (Since even Scottish people are remarking on her phrasing with, “Ooh, that sounded Scottish, you’ve been here to long, luv,” she is a little cranky and will probably say, “Like,” and “whatever,” and “random” a great deal, just to polish up her Americanisms.) The purpose of the piece is to explore the mind-body connection between singing and living well, as well as some of the social benefits of choral singing. We’ve talked about this before with friends – vanishingly rare are the congregational experiences in a life. Where do people gather in groups to do something together: church? the movies? well, not really, that’s fairly passive. Sooo, outside of church and dance classes, where everyone is participating, — ? there’s not much. So, we’re thinking of how best to share what we have gained in these years of music – what it gave to us as strangers in a strange land, and now it has kept us focused on the things we have in common. (Hmm. It seems we have a thesis thought…)

And after that, we’re going to sing our hearts out and knock this concert out of the ballpark, to use a totally random Americanism. ☺

To recap: we are still as clueless as we’ve been for the last several months, only we’ve gotten as sick of saying so as we’re sure you are of hearing it. Hundreds of resumes later, the interviews are few and unproductive. D. has abandoned the idea of academia in favor of returning to industry, but with his new status, he’s looking toward a different sort of job. T. has every confidence that he’ll find something interesting. Meanwhile, T’s challenges have expanded to somehow doing her own writing, waiting for a release this May, plus volunteering to collaborate on a screenplay for her last book. At this juncture, what seemed a great idea has been reduced to a big pain, but someday, maybe we’ll look back at all of this as A Story we can tell, and all of the sharp edges of worry and impatience and aggravating and “what was I thinking!?!?” will be sanded smooth by time. It will be a Ferry Tale, of how we once again loaded up our hearts and traversed over water between this point in our lives, and the next. And you will all laugh in the right places.

In the meantime, our conveyance is approaching the dock, and we have boxes to fill, and our house to set in order. Bear with us, we’ll send up a flare as soon as we know what direction the boat is going.

In Chaos,

D&T

P.S. Congratulations to our friend Van, who this week has one more son than he had the last. That kind of addition is the best math in the world.