Saving a Bad Day

I wasn't planning on updating tonight. I am exhausted, existing on 4 hours of sleep and pure desperation (it took 5 cups of coffee to get me through morning classes today. Not Good). But I just came from reading the ever-so-awesome Hayley G. Hoover's blog and it reminded me of something.

I had a bad day. So I want to do my 3 Good Things before going to bed. At least this way, I can save at least one sucky day from being completely written off as worthless. I'm not even going to write about what made my day so awful (even though the urge to just spill all the negativity out is strong). I just want to put a few positive thoughts out there and then call it a night. So here goes:

3 Good Things

1. Rachmaninoff. Today after my classes I was about to crash but something stopped me from giving in to a much-needed nap. I was about to slip off my boots and hop up onto my bed when I caught sight of my piano music sitting on my bookshelf. For a pianist, someone who has been playing the piano since age 6, there is no sadder sight than forgotten sheet music.

There is no sadder feeling than a week that has passed by without playing music. It shocked me to the bone to realize as I caught sight of my Rachmaninoff Prelude that it had been over a week since I had played. It had been several weeks. The realization was so heartwrenching I needed to put my hands on the keys immediately. Yes, I had been falling asleep in classes all day and my body felt as if it were made of lead, but I NEEDED to play.

And so I took the music, traveled down to the basement of my dorm, and sat down at the piano. This particular piano must be twenty years old at the least. Now, my beloved (beloved beloved beloved) piano at home is over twenty years old but it has been loved and taken care of. This piano in the basement was dumped in a spare room and forgotten about, only to be played by poor college students desperate for any music in their lives. It was out of tune, the keys stuck, even the bench was rickety. But it was a piano. And it still played.

I sat at the piano for two hours. I played songs from my early years of lessons (some classic Mozart Sonantas that just remind me of falling in love with the instrument) and I played new songs I was only just discovering. It hurt me to realize that my playing was rusty but the act of moving my fingers across the keys felt just as natural as it always had.

I ended my session, as always, with my favorite - Rachmaninoff. The song still fills me with warmth and happiness every time I play it (and play it flawlessly, lovingly). Today, playing the piano was worth ten full days' worth of sleep because it just uplifted my soul for a few moments (even if later on life brought it down again...but that's not supposed to be mentioned in my 3 Good Things blog).


2. The veggie burgers in the dining hall. Trivial but they only put out my favorite brand of veggie burgers about once a week. A day with my favorite veggie burger is a good day. There isn't a long story to go along with this Good Thing but it was good just the same.


3. My friend Liz.

I am of the belief that Facebook is actually hindering my relationships with friends away at college. It makes me feel like I am keeping in touch and keeping updated on their life, but really I'm just idly clicking on a photo or typing a shallow note on their wall ending with a few x's and o's. It makes me feel good. But really it's just lazy. That's not real friendship. Before Facebook, you made an effort to stay close with your friends and you found out just how much they meant to you (or you found out that maybe some friends, although you like them and value them, aren't the ones you make that effort for). You kept your most important friends close to you because the effort was worth it.

Talking to Liz, one of my closest friends from high school, on the phone today reminded me that she is one of those friends that is worth the effort. I miss her dearly and sometimes a quick interaction on Facebook is great for that little dose of Liz in my daily life but she is also worth that extra effort made for close friends to stay actively involved in each others' lives.



Now, it's time for bed and I can fall asleep thinking of these 3 Good Things.