Pulmonary function (or lack thereof)

I could never sing for a living. Too much can go wrong with a voice. Instrumentalists must have it so much easier. It doesn't matter what they eat or drink, if they have allergies, if they have sinus problems, what drugs they take, or really if they just wake up wrong. They can still play. Professional and student vocalists, I do not envy you. I'm not appreciating this panicky frustration related to my uncooperative vocal cords. I'm singing for a wedding later today, a random church gig, trying to ignore the random summer cold I got this week. Not only am I congested, I'm wheezing, which is decreasing my respiratory reserve for sure, and this dry cough is wreaking havoc on my chest voice. Getting sick in July is absurd.

This is reminding me of the time last spring when I was doing Jekyll & Hyde and I was singing at like 50% capacity, if that, which just did not fly. Emma has to sing a high C. I had been battling a dry cough for months, and I had NO vocal endurance. The steroid inhaler I was prescribed cleared it right up, but my voice was left out to dry (literally). Continuing to cough wore my voice down ragged, but curing the cough left me with this wimpy little voice that crackled in my lower register, and my mixed register just didn't exist. It ended up that all I had to do was get back on my allergy medication, which didn't affect my voice at all. An amazing discovery, and just in time.

Today, however, I just have to push fluids and hope my 10 hours of sleep last night worked some magic. Probably the most important piece is Schubert's "Ave Maria," and that sounds fine because it's completely in my mixed/upper register...the other songs are not quite up to my usual standards, but listen-able. What the bride doesn't know doesn't hurt her, I suppose.

one hand, one heart

*The pictures and spacing got reeeally screwy :(

Last weekend I had the amazing honor of being a bridesmaid in Kelsey & Josh Hoyt's wedding. Kelsey is one of my very best friends and we suffered through the hells of the Truman nursing program together. I went to Jacksonville, IL really only knowing her. I had met most of her bridesmaids but hadn't spent significant amounts of time with any of them. By the time I left, however, I had been welcomed into their group and I felt like I'd been good friends with these five girls and one guy (Kelsey's Man of Honor) for years! It was a crazy fantastic weekend and I have to share the highlights...these will have to be in chronological order because there's no way I could rank them.

1. Audrey and Sandy trying, and mostly failing miserably (but hilariously) to inflate some adultballoons, let's say, in my car on the highway between St. Louis and Springfield.

2. Pulling up to the hotel, honking at the girls inside to no avail, and earning glares from hotel employees and patrons as I parked my car obnoxiously and left it there.

3. The super cute bachelorette party shirts that labeled us as a pack (wolfpack, if you will?) and earned us stuff while we were out on the town like free champagne and shots (awesome) and extra attention from a group of guys claiming to be a bachelor party (awkward).

4. The certain traffic item that Audrey and I acquired after the bachelorette debauchery had turned in for the night and left as a gift outside the bridal suite after the wedding.

5. The impeccable hosting of the Mason family. Delores and Andy Mason are absolutely delightful people. We were treated to a bridesmaid luncheon at a tea room before the rehearsal and it was just what all of us needed.

6. The unwitting dirty remarks made repeatedly by the poor, hopefully ignorant pastor during the rehearsal (and subsequently the wedding). The wedding party was dying trying to hold ourselves together.

7. The fun table at the rehearsal dinner. Most of the bridesmaids were at a table with the ushers, and then towards the end Kelsey and Josh joined us and things got really out of hand, helped I'm sure by the excellent open bar. Especially comments verbalized in planning the activities accompanying the garter toss.

8. Trying to find Walmart with Audrey after the rehearsal dinner. Probably the two people you'd pick dead last for your driving geography team.

9. Girl time before the wedding, both at the hair salon and in the church basement.

10. The fact that most of the bridal party was in tears throughout the ENTIRE wedding ceremony because it was so beautiful and we were so happy. Seriously, my eyes were welled up by the time Kelsey got to the end of the aisle and were dripping after Josh recited his vows. Looking at Kelsey's dad tore me up, too. It was absolutely perfect and gorgeous. Seeing one of my dearest friends' every dream come true was such a great feeling...I was high on it the rest of the night!

11. The baller super stretch Hummer limo that transported the wedding party to the reception! The weekend had been a little stressful up until then (way more for Kelsey than anyone else, I'm sure) but I felt like we could finally relax. Popping open the several bottles of champagne helped!

12. The VIP entrances made by the wedding party at the reception. There was like basketball crowd pumping music playing and the DJ announced everyone's name, and we came in with our partner from walking down the aisle. Saed made a last-second decision for us to do a simple dance move that the crowd loved.

13. Sitting at the head table at the breathtaking reception. There were hundreds of candles, intricate centerpieces that all looked perfect, and so many happy people. Oh, and drinking beer out of champagne flutes...keepin' it classy.

14. Kelsey's dad's welcome toast made everyone cry all over again, and included a bottle of champagne saved from their own wedding back in 1983.

15. Instead of pulling off Kelsey's garter in a neat, orderly fashion, the bridesmaids set up Kelsey's chair to have an assortment of objects underneath for Josh to seemingly pull out from under her voluminous skirts before finally reaching the garter. The DJ kinda hated on this but everyone else loved it. Also, Josh tried to flick the garter but it landed right behind him, and Man of Honor Ben leapt out on the dance floor to grab it before anyone else could even move.

16. Gettin wild on the dance floor the WHOLE night. The slightly drunk bridesmaids kicked off the party, of course, just like we did 2 nights prior at the bachelorette party. The bride danced her little butt off, too.

17. when the bridal party circled up at the end of the amazing night and vowed to repeat the experience as closely as possible every year on june 27th, if not more frequently.

18. my "drive of shame" across illinois and missouri the day after everything...after about 3 hours of sleep, the trip taking about 8 hours total including meals and a nap in a shaded corner of a bob evans parking lot in columbia...still wearing my makeup from the night before with my sprayed and curled hair in shambles. ALL WORTH IT!