The party�s over�
11:21 p.m.
The man�s birthday was a good one. His mom phoned from Florida, so he had to open the b-day presents she had given him when we were in Guelph for Thanksgiving, and lo, a baseball hat emblazoned with the word �Canada� thereupon, two golf shirts, one plaid shirt, and an envelope with photos plus a card lay therein. Hooray for mothers-in-law! I never need to shop for my man, his mom still does it! Supper was a success. The carrot cake was fantabulous! I just love that stuff. Yes, I was a good girl and kept my consumption to a minimum, but Son was dropping not-so-subtle hints about adding a morsel or two to his lunch box tomorrow.
Gift-wise, my man got the usual agenda for next year, and a new espresso maker. Very appreciated. Daughter gave him a card and a book for reading while on the john. It has snippets of stuff just long enough for the act itself. Son gave his dad a homemade card, which was par for the course, considering he didn�t give himself an opportunity to buy/make/prepare anything more given all the time he spent playing his new computer game.
I left Ilonina quite a lengthy note about the antipathy of church congregations towards excessive music during services. It seems to me that perhaps the congregants feel left out when they can�t participate in the music making. They aren�t looking upon Sunday morning service as a concert, but as worship, and if the choir is doing all the good stuff, there�s nothing left for them. This hit me as I was thinking back to the carol service last night. The woman directly opposite me in the chapel (the seats all face into the centre aisle, so you have to crane your neck to see the altar) had a beatific smile on her face as she sang the carols. Considering I live in a community of �enlightened� individuals, i.e. a university town, the people who come out to the carol service are looking especially forward to participating in it. These are not your run-of-the-mill churchgoers. Heck, I�m not your run-of-the-mill churchgoer! I would never go to a Xian service if there weren�t something in it for me!
When I was in my final year at Western, the choral conductor who was the sole reason I had chosen that university was on sabbatical. Alas! However, he directed the choir at a church in town, and one of his sopranos had graduated the spring before and left. I knew he would likely ask me to join, since I had filled in on occasion before, and mentioned to his wife, who was also the organist, that I was concerned this might not sit well with the people who signed the cheque, seeing as how I was Jewish. Well, she must have voiced my worries to her husband, who broached the subject with the minister, and got back to me that there would be no problem whatsoever. So, for ten months I sang in Wesley-Knox United Church, bit my tongue during the stuff I took exception to, and got to sing under the baton of my favouritest choral man of all time.
Now, the question is: Would I still have sung in that choir if I was not receiving an honorarium? Here I was, a Jewish atheist, singing hymns and anthems praising Jesus on Sundays, and getting to rehearse every Thursday night with a man I adored. Would that have been enough? I don�t think so. I loved that man, I still think of him fondly and consider him one of my greatest mentors, but had I not been receiving the pittance they paid me, I would not have sat quietly through the sermons and sung choral responses. I am more mercenary than that.
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