The Show Must Go On

Christmas is past. The gigs have been played. One thing remains from those days. That is....Well, there is one part of the winter months that is nearly inevitable for most. The bug that catches hold and makes you sick as a dog quick as wink. The virus that brings the toughest to his or her knees crying for relief, though relief is hard to come by and usually on the most merciless terms. I hate to mention it but because this happened to me not before or after my Christmas Eve performances rather, during, it is incumbent upon me to talk about it. (Well, humor me anyways. ^^)

All was going well throughout the first Christmas Eve service in Dowogiac. I played and was feeling energetic. That feeling of nothing being wrong, or in other words, life will continue uninterrupted and I'm not even thinking about the possibility of getting sick was soon to be shattered. Half way to the next service I suddenly--usually one is prone to hyperbole in such cases, but if my memory serves me right, it took a matter of minutes--felt rumbling in my stomach. It was that doomed sort of feel that you get when you know that something doesn't agree with you and it wants out, and I mean OUT.

Within 10 minutes of onset of those sick vibes I began to sweat and wondered silently how long I could hold it. After all I was carpooling and had no control over when to stop other than to ask the driver to pull over immediately. Miraculously I held it in for 20 minutes. Upon opening the door I made a "drunken" dash for the grass hoping that it would be all done with before it began. Nope, the winter bug had struck and it wasn't letting me off the hook! (I am sure you know of the action I speak, so I will spare the details at this point as it is such an unpleasant topic to describe or even mention by name.)

Some minutes later I made my way inside the church hoping that I would be strong enough to play the service. I did make it through several hymns and a couple of special numbers but really was unable to focus for lack of energy--having been purged of my supper. I must have looked pretty bad at this point because Linda asked if I wanted to lie down for a spell. I acquiesced and proceeded to nod off through the caroling and most of the homily, waking up only to play one special number that had been arranged specially for voice, cello, and organ, only to remove myself immediately again.

At this point I was done with playing, too weak and tired to focus and pull the bow across the strings. Alas, I have never been struck by the winter monster bug so viciously nor so quickly on a performance night. It was a relief to be purged since it remedied the largest part of my problem but then again, I was unable to play the entire program for lack of energy. Thankfully, I was mainly in good health and spirits the next day and could eat normally again at the time of this writing, even early at about 36 hours after the bug had struck.

The show must go on, with or without you. Luckily there was another who could perform with or without me.