04-03-25 A Day of Surprises
The first surprise was that I woke up just after 5 AM and I was wide awake so I got up and made a coffee and sat in my chair thinking I would fall asleep again, but no, so I was at the office before eight and got a great deal done before it was time to go pick up gala auction items from Dave at Canadian Tire and get to the Rotary lunch. Dave is so generous and surprised me by giving me a ticket to join him in his box at the arena for the first playoff games next week.
After the lunch, I stopped at Key City to pick up their Gala gift and pick up my ticket to the show this evening. That was surprise number two. In the morning I got an invite via messenger from Sarah Hagen to be her guest tonight. I confess not being well-versed on Johann Sebastian Bach nor the Goldberg variations, which she would be playing, but it was such a beautiful invitation that I was very happy to accept.
The seat that was chosen for me was in the second row on the aisle with a perfect angle of being able to watch her hands and the charts. I was mesmerized. And perhaps that was the third surprise, I loved it. I don’t think it was my imagination that at moments her hands were a blur. They were moving so fast, the fingers across the keys, creating a story and emotion without any words.
In the lobby before the show, she had a display of a print for each variation art that she had created to express that variation. I found them interesting and chaotic and colourful and confusing and then I saw variation 30 the last of them and felt joy to the world. I purchased it immediately with a red dot so that people could experience it. After the show, Sarah graciously signed my CD and initialled beside her signature on the print which was funny because she seemed hesitant and then commented that it was beautiful done in the gold sharpie.
I did manage to surprise her by wearing my 2019 MusicFest T-shirt, which had the artistic grand piano on the front and her name amongst the artists on the back.
Went home I framed and hung her piece immediately so that it wouldn’t get damaged. I’m glad I keep extra frames around for when I am moved by art. 
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the day work wise was being able to keep my boundaries and not react to some of the issues that are still coming up from the organization that I am getting ready to ghost lol.
triumphgal 