1. After I posted a memory of being transported by Vaughan Williams' Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus, a longtime friend from Eugene emailed me a note of gratitude for reminding her of Williams' composition. She's feeling anxiety about an upcoming dental procedure and while washing and chopping vegetables for a salad she was making, she played Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus.
Her response uplifted me. About the music, she wrote, "Oh yes. Ecstasy. Pure and true, right down deep into the marrow."
About the dental work, she added that the procedure is scheduled for early Thursday morning and that she is "extremely anxious that it won't work, but I will be listening to Dives and Lazarus for the next 36 hours and I believe it will help me through."
To put it the simplest way possible, I love making this kind of connection with friends growing out of our shared love for the spiritual power of classical music in general and Ralph Vaughan Williams specifically.
2. Most of my experience with classical music is solitary -- this extends all the way back to the eighth grade when I used to listen to a George Gershwin LP in the privacy of my bedroom and back to my days of studying at the North Idaho College library when I used to check out headphones and classical music albums. At NIC, I often focused my listening on specific instruments. I'd find pieces featuring the bassoon or the oboe or the clarinet and more popular instruments like the piano or trumpet or stringed instruments like the violin or cello.
It's a source of mighty joy when my experience with this music is, in whatever way, communal.
When I wrote a blog post a week or so ago about Ralph Vaughan Williams, another friend commented on my Facebook page that she adores Vaughan Williams' magnificent The Lark Ascending and that she and her husband had Williams' Fantasia on Greensleeves playing at their wedding as they signed the register.
I love knowing that we share adoration for Ralph Vaughan Williams.
3. Over a year ago, in the early post-transplant days, I mixed a powder in water and drank it to lower the potassium levels in my blood.
The powder and water worked.
My potassium levels came into range and my job, then, was to keep my potassium consumption moderate.
My focus zeroed in on potatoes.
I love potatoes.
No one told me to quit eating them, but to eat moderate amounts.
My general approach has been to limit my consumption of potatoes to when I eat breakfast or a burger and fries at a restaurant.
The other day, however, I took a walk on the wild side at Yoke's and bought some potatoes.
Tonight, I fried two potatoes with red sweet pepper and ate this little mess as a side to the tri-tip steak I fixed.
Those potates blissed me out.
I'll maintain my commitment to moderation and I think I'll see if my potassium levels remain in range even if, on occasion, I fry some potatoes at home.
My motivation to keep the potassium in range?
I don't want to return to mixing that powder and water and drinking it again.
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