Sunday, November 14, 2010

Great weekend . . . wait . . . what? Really?

Things from the wedding were great. They really were. A few rough patches, but otherwise great.

And I love people so much. It'll be really hard when I stop going back every weekend. I'm getting used to seeing everyone again!

On another note, I can now add a fifth terrible thing that God's heaping on my plate!

Ready for this?

So, way back when I had to buy another violin because mine got stolen and I bought something nice, including a nice bow? Remember that? No? Well, I'm telling you now.

Anyway, I bought a nice bow. One made out of pernambuco wood. Ever heard of it? It's OK. Not everyone is up to date on the different varieties of violin bow-wood. No biggie. Well, this particular word is rare and very good for violin bows; however, it is no longer legal to make new bows from this wood. You can resell the old ones, but you just can't make news ones. This bow? You guessed it. Old. Made from pernambuco wood. From the 1920's.

Ah me, I'm sure you can see where this is going, can't you? Gentle reader, you're so smart.

I played worship this morning for the first time in ages. It felt so good. I must have been playing extra hard or something because right in the middle of practice this morning the tip of my bow popped off of the stick.

You heard me. It didn't snap. It didn't crack. It literally popped off the rest of the bow, and the hair fanned out like a long, white firework. Except I didn't "ooo" and "ahhh."

Nope. I just stood there. No one else had noticed. The sounds of worship were still surrounding me as I cradled my now useless bow in my hands. See, the thing about breaking the tip of a bow is that it can't be fixed.

You can't just slap some Gorilla Glue on it and call it good. It's done for. I can save the fittings from the end, and that's about it. People were sad for me and sympathetic, but I'm not sure they can really understand unless they've played the violin before. If you've ever played, and you've ever gotten close to your bow (because, really, that's the thing that makes your instrument sing), you know exactly what I'm talking about.

Was I careless with the bow? Of course not! Was I misusing it? Never. It seriously was an out of the blue, ridiculously terrible, crazy, random happenstance.

I haven't even cried yet. I think I'm still in shock. And surprisingly, still in a good mood.

We'll see how long it lasts. I'll let you know.

Because I know you hang on every word.

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