Cough, Cancel and Connect

This season has been incredible! I have been on the go since late August and haven’t really stopped to live life. However, I am grateful because I love being an opera singer. I've traveled from Milwaukee to St. Louis to Washington DC to New York to Naples, Florida and then to Lebanon, Ohio. I have sung Beethoven, Gounod, Johann Strauss, Hans Werner Henze, Gershwin and of course, my favorite, Rossini! I have been grateful for every role, company and colleague (even the ones that complain throughout the entire process…you know who you are!) So it came as a bit of a shock when I was week out from flying to California for a world premiere opera when the flu* hit me.

Imagine a truck running over you, backing up and running over you again and then just to make certain all is balanced, running you over from both the left and right sides. That’s close to how bad I felt. In less than 24 hours I went from feeling a bit tired to having a headache that felt like someone was drilling for oil coupled with a cough that liked to get up at 3 am. Imagine a chest full of phlegm similar to an uninvited party guest that won't leave and a body so achy I was certain that any time I made a trip to the bathroom to spit out the hug gobs of phlegm, I would fall as my legs would seize up refusing to move any more.

I was supposed to go to Lebanon (OH) at the end of the week and then would leave immediately for California for three weeks, then come back and start work with Salt Marsh Opera and immediately fly to North Carolina for an audition. I wouldn’t get any recovery time until mid-May. Normally, I like being so busy, but with a singing voice that sounded like a combination of Bea Arthur and Animal from the The Muppets, I had to figure out how I would find time to restore and what that meant career-wise.

After careful consultation with my agent and the opera company in California, we decided I should cancel, get well and allow the company to find a replacement. (The replacement would have three weeks to learn the role and be ready!) It was a terrible feeling (on top of the physical crap that was keeping me from sleep,) but I knew in my heart that it was the right thing to do. I had to put aside worrying about how it would affect others and focus on myself.

Well, it’s been nearly two and a half weeks and I am doing pretty well. I made it through the concert in Ohio with only a few coughs appearing as back-up accompaniment for other artists performing. While I did lose out on the fee from California, I am grateful to the Universe for providing some teaching artist opportunities in the Bronx (you better feel well to keep up with these kids!) and two concerts so, financially, I’m “feeling a lot better.”**

The biggest upside to having this time free is that I have been able to spend more time being home for the wedding planning process with my partner. On top of that, I am seeing people and experiencing events that I would have missed by being away. It is my true belief that the Universe, GOD, Good Orderly Direction or whatever name you call it, wanted to find a way for me to stop, slow down and live my life…the life I have been disconnected from by flying all over the place. It has given me a lot of time to think about balance and if it takes the flu* for me to reconnect, then I am grateful for it.

Peace,

Eric

*There is someone (and they know who they are) who doesn’t believe I had the flu. We will agree to disagree.

**The same person will hopefully chuckle at the words in quotation.