PRAY AND KEEP GOING

I was delighted and honored to be asked to play the flute for my dear friend Margaret’s wedding to her wonderful new husband, John. The plan was for me to perform a selection of songs starting about ten minutes before the ceremony and continuing through the time when our pastor, the groom, and the groom’s family made their entrance.

The day was lovely with a few puffy clouds and moderate temperatures. However, I was a bit concerned with the reasonably strong breeze as the whole event was to take place outside. Knowing from past experiences that my sheet music would be prone to blow away or at the very least flip to the next page before I was finished with the current one, I put each page in a plastic sleeve in a notebook, and at the last minute I also asked a friend to hold and turn the pages for me if it became evident that it was a problem. I even clipped the first page to the stand.

Also, since the flute tone is made by blowing across the mouthpiece (like blowing across a glass beverage bottle to make a "hoo hoo" noise, if you’ve every tried that!) I would need to turn away from the wind to produce any sound at all. This would have been fine, but it rendered me incapable of seeing the pastor and groom’s party as they exited the church, which was my cue to play a new song. So, my friend also agreed to tap me on the shoulder when that moment came.

I kept my phone on the music stand so I could start at the precise right time, and at 12:20 I began the first tune, “Serenade,” by Haydn. Simultaneously, the music page flipped over, and my long hair whipped into my mouth making it almost impossible to produce a clean sound. Said friend rushed to hold the page in place and I barely missed a beat, doing the best I could with a wad of hair in my mouth. All that would have been manageable—IF my cell phone would not have started making a racket. I always keep it in silent mode, but apparently inadvertently hit the “sound” button. Keep in mind that my ringtone mimics coyotes howling. It was all I could do not to collapse in a fit of giggles realizing that it was very likely that the microphone was picking up the quite realistic sound of wild canines accompanied by the amplified whooshing of the wind.

There are times in life when “all” you can do is to pray and to keep moving forward!