Sometimes the good overwhelms the bad

My family has gone through a tough few months. Plans fell apart, people were hurt and sad, big steps were taken only to fail, changes and more changes and reversals and then more changes have happened. Even the good things were full of stress and anxiety and really felt diminished by how much energy they were taking.

But this week, two things happened that were unexpectedly wonderful, so wonderful that I have to write about them:

I sing with a choir which is premiering a new work by a world-famous composer. Tonight, the three choirs that commissioned the piece rehearsed it with the composer himself accompanying on the piano, and his son playing percussion. It was magic. The concerts (two this weekend) will be better, no doubt, because the audience always pushes the energy way up. But there was something wonderful about the intimate making of music which has never been heard before, not the way the composer had envisioned it until tonight. I hope Paul Halley was content with this 'first time' experience.

Tonight I also won a VIP ticket to a big event with internationally acclaimed speakers happening in my home town next week. I entered the contest (write a response to my blog posting & tell me why you should win! ) completely not expecting a thing. I never win these things, and my entry was pretty cheesy (you know, sincere and quirky and stuff). Lo and behold - I won! Next week I will attend the Art of Marketing with Mitch Joel, Guy Kawasaki and others. I cannot wait to hear what they all have to say, and am hoping like fury that the presentations help kick me out of my Masters' project doldrums.

These two good things are not much to set up again the weight of sad, frightening, stressful, worrying moments we have been going through over the past few months, and I am not Pollyanna-ish enough to claim that they are. But they are reminders, I suppose, that life comes in a variety of colours and flavours, and if you concentrate too hard on the bad, sad, mad things, you may just miss out in the moments of transcendental serendipity.