2009 NATS!

It is 6:22am – I should still be in bed for another half hour but I was tossing and turning. So here I am, in the Eau Claire Days Inn, writing about what I hope will be a great day. It just has to get better from yesterday!

Yesterday morning I got in the car to go teach at Carroll, thinking I’d leave a little earlier and run some errands pre-teaching. Put my key in the ignition – nada. Didn’t turn over, didn’t click. I got out, went to the end of the driveway, swore not-so-silently and not-so-under-my-breath, and looked around to see if my neighbor Ellyn was around so I could borrow her car to get to Carroll. Didn’t see her. Walked back to the car and thought, “I’ll try again.” It started. I got her running and got out to Carroll, hoping she’d make it there and that she’d start post-class. She did. I ran my errands after class, each time hoping the car would start when I got back to it. It did.

So I figured it was an aberration and drove the 3-3/4 hours to Eau Claire. And she ran until 6 blocks from the hotel, when the car’s lights all went out and she stopped – and then started back up. Got to the hotel and registered, went to move the car to the side of the hotel where my room is – and she stopped. I think it’s the alternator.

I am so fortunate – 1) That she didn’t stop while I was sandwiched between the myriad of semi-trailers I encountered; 2) That my hotel is across the street from a Toyota dealership; and 3) That I have a current AAA card.

And I hope the studio’s fortune also holds up today – today Kate Trotter, Ryan Stajmiger, Breanna Kaho and Magdelyn Monahan are all participating in the 2009 Wisconsin NATS auditions in the high school divisions for classical girls, MT boys and MT girls respectively. All are extremely well prepared and I have high hopes that at least one of them will go to the finals (which would make it 8 years in a row for the studio – but no pressure). We have no control over the outcome for this kind of thing, only the process, and they have done the work needed to do a good job.

And I hope that my car is ready so I can go home tomorrow!