Serendipity

I've always liked the word serendipity; it's a fun word, sorta like zippity-do-dah. When you are thrilled by the unexpected, when you discover or observe something by "chance" that is exceedingly special - that's serendipity!

I was thinking about dates today and about a plaque I'd seen in a catalog that read: "Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away." (The same catalog had another that said, "Sometimes I wonder, why is that Frisbee getting bigger? . . . and then it hits me", but that one didn't have the same effect somehow.) I like the fact that my:

• 1st CI surgery = Sept. 19 - the day before my mom's 74th birthday


• 2nd CI surgery= Feb. 19


• 2nd activation = Mar. 17 - the day before my brother's 57th birthday
  

It had not occurred to me before my activation day that I would be "turned on" on the Monday before Easter and that this would mean that I would be engulfed in the robust choral music of Holy Week right out of the gate. Easter is so early this year, and because of leap year, it's one day shy of being as early as it could possibly be in a three-century period, Gerry says. (I'm married to a math tinkerer)

Tonight the choir did a marvelous arrangement of the spiritual, "Were You There . . ." and I could hear even the softest ooo's and mmm's. I never dreamed that my new Harmony processor and my trusted Clarion CI working together would give me this kind of music experience on Day #5!! This Easter is indeed about resurrection, even the resurrection of my dead ear.

Ah . . . serendipity!

Concert in the Parking Lot

Our church parking lot is surrounded by tall, deciduous trees and bordered by a retention pond on one side. Did you know that from 6:00 - 7:00 pm scores of birds give a free concert? You don't need a ticket, just a car with the windows rolled down and TWO ears that work!

The birds start "tuning up" about 6:05 and by 6:20 they are singing their little avian hearts out. I couldn't actually see the musicians among all the lush foliage, but their lyrical serenade floated in from both sides of the car and carried me away to glory!

What I couldn't fathom tonight was why the other early arrivals for our Good Friday service were either napping in their cars or reading the evening paper, seemingly oblivious to the Carnegie Hall performance that was all around them!!

Maundy Thursday

Last night, I wrote across the cover of my church bulletin: "My first bilateral church service". While the string quartet played and people meandered in for our Maundy Thursday service, Pastor Parsons (yes, that's really his last name!) came over to where I was seated along the center aisle, knelt down, and asked, "How does it sound?" All I managed to do in response was to get all misty-eyed and point to my note on the bulletin. He grinned from ear to ear.

As you probably already now, Maundy Thursday, also called Holy Thursday, is a service to commemorate Jesus' last supper and the institution of the sacrament of The Lord's Supper. Maundy comes from the Latin, meaning commandment (Come to think of it, I guess that explains the origin of the English word mandate.)

It was truly a Holy experience for me - - - I had no idea that our choir was that good. Who knew that they use such dramatic crescendos and decrescendos for emphasis, that their big sound fills the whole sanctuary!