7:57 am......

ok, so the phone rang at 7:57 am......startling when the phone rings whilst one is deep in sleep....there is a passing indecision on the nature of the sound...until the slot machine-part of the brain rolls up a trio of pink telephones.....and the connection between the sound and its origin is made......'is c.c. there?...'......omg...it is genessa (sp).......whose indisctinct diction grates upon my ears......i struggle to hear....but that is all she ever really says when she calls at incredibly inappropriate times......7:57 is no the earliest she has called.......on christmas day the wakeup call came much earlier....but i digress......i recall being awake most of the night.......off and on from when i ducked under the covers at precisely 11:05....just back from a harrowing drive back from lexington in the pouring rain.....late night driving, in the rain, when one is tired is such a bad idea......especially on the curvy road that is the straightest route to the house and therefore to my bed...i had made the trip earlier in the evening for a special occassion...to see the senior recital of our favorite songbird......i must come up with a better moniker.......she is certainly too precious for such a vague term....skylark?.....she is really the bird expert...i should consult her on the best and the brightest of the songbirds.......the event was held in a downtown church with no parking lot...i only mention this because i had pulled into an apretment complex with clearly marked reserved spots for tenants....and though i did check the slot i chose for reserved markings.....i did fear during the performances the reality of a towed vehicle.....oh vey....again i digress........there were a handful of seniors.....mostly young women......their voice teacher accompanied on the grand piano when a senior piano major did not.....and the first songstress up was.......sweet, but with a voice much too thin for the song she chose......the sort of voice one needs in a chorus.....but certainly not one for the big solo in any production........the kind of voice that requires a microphone......gentle readers....voice recitals arenot/shouldnot be electronically enhanced.....it would be wrong.......and so i began to feel a certain unease.....like there would be more of the same as we made out way down the list of selctions.....always a foreign language piece followed by something in english......and the quality of the voices managed to go downhill....from the thin to the vaporized.......omg......how can these women actually go on to study voice when they have the will but not the instrument for such endeavors......that is until our songbird got up to sing.......bona vox......good voice.........a huge voice is more accurate......a voice that passers-by could probably hear.....clear, richly toned......wow.......that is the voice of someone going to oberlin converatory......and as it turns out, few of her classmates are actually going on to study music...that had merely been my assumption.......and when it was over we went back out into the rain, along with another of my son's special friends.......i shall call her wit for blogging purposes.....in search of something to eat.......the restaurant chosen by our songbird was somewhat ridden hard and hung up wet......nobody at the front door.......i offered to our group my supposition that the hostess had earlier thrown up her hands and stomped off in some midlife crisis....as that is probably what i would have done myself under the circumstances........we were finally hydrated, and fed.......over humerous banter.....i was likely in the company of three of the most talented young people in central kentucky......and thinking back i must say that it is so serendipitous that they know each other so well now......and will be able to look back fondly as having known each other...when they are each famous for doing what they do best......but back to the wakeup call.........7:57 am was not the first time i looked at the clock in disbelief.....nope...that moment came at 3:30 am when the manual alarm clock went off....and then the clock radio came on with bbc news.......and my spouse leaped out of bed.......time to get up to drive himself, our middle child....and a centre student staying over....to louisville to run the derby festival minimarathon.......in the cold, cold rain, i might add.........i tried to go back to sleep.....but sleep does not come easily when one can smell the brewing coffee....and hear the thunps and squeaks of people trying to get themselves out the door and on the road.......8:47 am....the phone rings again.....'is stephan there?...the caller asks sweetly.....no?....this is dawn...please let him know that the nhs carwash has been cancelled.......'......gentle readers,...this last bit of information was thrown in just for the reading pleasure of those who will remain unnamed.......but hey...it is still so very early......and i might just take the newspaper back to bed with me.......i have already had a pretty big day.........