Hi Everyone!
I am back after a few months of leave, and I am glad to be writing again. Thanks for all of your patience. Unfortunately, life doesn’t resolve issues as quickly as we would like them to be resolved. As you saw in my last post, I came home after the Buy-Way weekend to find my house robbed. These thefts in our lives did not stop after that initial incident; we had two other incidences occurring within two months after the August robbery. These three events left my husband and I pretty battered and world-weary to say the least.
The concept of trust as a whole for me was shaken to its core. The quote, “You take the good with bad,” really was true this time. It was very hard to reconcile the good of the last Lincoln Highway trip when I came home to something so devastating. I’ll admit, I was pretty fearful of doing anything with this travelogue. My basic primal fear was that if I left again to do research again, something bad would happen again. Period. I know it seems silly, but that’s how I felt for a while after the thefts.
I knew that I had to let go of all of this in a healthy way, so I went up north on retreat before the holidays, sat with all of emotions of these events along with other events from the last 12 months (including the unexpected death of my father before my wedding), and got my emotions back in check. Grief and loss (including loss of security) is part of everyone’s life, and I know it will never go away fully. The key is to not let the emotions control you of course, but it’s easier said then done.
The last few months have been all behind the scenes work for the journey in 2013. I have been finalizing and rehearsing the concert program you will all hear in 2013. I have been sitting in dusty stacks of sheet music for hours, and pouring over old programs to see what singers performed from 1913-1930. Some of the sheet music is still on order and will be arriving in the coming months. I want to have a good variety of music genres in the program, but still have a cohesive recital that people will want to see. I also have been working on the travel itinerary as well, and I plan to spend roughly 2 weeks in each state when I travel, so I’ll be on the road for about 6 months in total (April-October).
I’ve also started looking at vintage catalogs and books to get a good idea fashion wise how I want to present myself on the road. It will be more of a conservative 1920’s look to keep with the music I’ll be presenting. It’s amazing what little details come into play with something like this.
If you or someone else you know would like to help contribute with this project in one way of another, please send them my way or share this blog with them. While I am the one embarking on this journey, this travelogue is about the communities along the Lincoln Highway as well. You all are stars in this project as much as I am.
I will be posting regularly about my progress, which will include photos and video. If there is something you want me to post about, please let me know. What I think might be boring may be totally interesting to you. If it’s interesting to you, it’s probably interesting to more people out there.
Wherever you all are, I wish you all the best in this new year and I look forward to seeing you on the road in 2012.