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| Emily feeding lorikeets. |
One of my favorite Australian phrases is "no worries." It is up there with "y'all" on my "Favorite Words I've Learned Since Leaving Idaho" list.
When I was in college, I played tennis with some friends on occasion. It was fun, but the problem was, they were all a lot better than I was. I was a bit self conscious, especially when making mistakes. Let's face it, in spite of taking lessons twice (once when I was twelve, and once when I was 18) I still strike out on occasion. It's hard to learn a new sport without making a complete fool of yourself (especially if that sport is diving, or so I hear from my diver husband, who is an excellent diver, but still messes up, and doesn't care. That is one of Shon's most endearing qualities, but I digress. . . ) One of my tennis buddies knew just what to say when I made a mistake. "Shake it off!" What else is there to do when you make a mistake or something bad happens to you, but fix it as best you can, and quickly move on.
I play the organ in sacrament meeting once a month and have done it many times, in several different wards. My organ playing career began in high school when my sister and I took organ lessons and rotated playing prelude music in church. It was fun because the bishop never noticed me and would thank my teacher for the music, even when I was playing. I was happy he didn't notice, because that meant I didn't make any big mistakes.
That is my prayer most Sundays: Please don't let me draw attention to myself! It isn't about me, it's about singing hymns of praise. (Because, as you know, "the song of the righteous is a prayer.")
This week's hymns weren't anything difficult, but I practiced anyway, and I was ready to go, in spite of a very busy morning, and an even busier evening the night before. Our church building is one of the oldest LDS churches in Brisbane - a beautiful red brick building with a lovely little courtyard, and tiny parking lot. The organ was replaced some time back in the 60's or 70's. It is very old. It has all sorts of funny stops that make it have crazy vibrato or plunking noises. Because of the position of the organ, you have to turn the volume up full blast in order for the people in the congregation to hear it. I have learned from experience that I can't trust what I hear. From where I am sitting, it sounds deafeningly loud, but from the pews it sounds fine. Most of the organs I have played actually make me sound better than I am, with bass coupling, and nice stops. Not this organ. It has broken and been repaired several times. This morning, as I was playing the opening hymn, the organ suddenly started making a horrible noise! There was a loud vibration coming from somewhere, giving the song a "heavy metal" flavor. I had a quick moment of panic. The chorister kept going. I turned the volume down a bit, and tried to see if any buttons were pushed, while still playing. After half a verse of 'Thanks for the Sabbath School', Def Leopard-style, one of the more experienced organists came up and jiggled a button and the noise stopped. Thank you Susan! I am still laughing. Never a dull moment! That almost beats the time, last month, when Shon announced the wrong person for the closing prayer! (There was an amusing bit of confusion. . . )
Shake it off.
Luckily, the primary children sang a beautiful rendition of "Beautiful Savior" accompanied by violin, so no one seems to remember my technical malfunction.
On another note, Caleb got his two bits worth, Saturday. He got a shave and a hair cut. I gave him the hair cut. The shave he did himself. Oops. I don't think he'll do that again.
No worries, mate!
