Marriage and Verdi and Surgery - Oh my!

Well a few busy weeks have have come and gone. I was lucky enough to marry my beautiful woman Nicole and unlucky enough to have my gall bladder removed yesterday. I am writing during my convalescence, trying to sit comfortably while writing this. I know the obvious question is why write anything when you are in pain, but come on - I've already watched Airplane!, Top Secret and Princess Bride - I need a break from the TV.

In between all of this was a nice musical interlude: performing "Va, pensiero" with John Wustman and several colleagues from the University of Illinois. Granted 6 people singing a huge Verdian chorus may seem anticlimactic, but Mr. Wustman is one of the great pianists of my lifetime, and it was an honor to share the stage with him. With any luck I may get to coach with him at some point.

So for the good news - we had predictions for a gorgeous day when I got to the University of Illinois Arboretum with the menfolk (Jasper, Cliff, Eric and Jeff), but even as we setup 107 chairs and an arch, the clouds rolled in. We ignored the changing weather predictions and made it to the gardens and even got most of the pictures taken but then the rain came. Finally we had to call it so we rang our reception site - the University of Illinois Alumni Center. They were outstanding and had the lobby rearranged and set up for us in 30 minutes (with the help of many of our good friends). The next thing I knew I was being dabbed by my wonderful sister-in-law Aimee (apparently I get sweaty) and given a glass of wine (or two ) to sooth the nerves.

Then came the fun part - Cliff sang Ideale, Wenn ich in deine Augen seh, A Cloris and several other pieces in his splendid rich baritone, Kent and Teresa played beautifully and all of our friends were amazing in singing Bernstein's "Make our garden grow". There were some very personal and amusing moments as well - Riccardo missed his cue to come read the first poem, so since I didn't have a program I walked over to my uncle who was officiating and whispered "What's next" to which he answered "The Readings". So I pointed to Riccardo in the audience and waved him up. He read "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways..." by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and then my father read a poem written for us entitled "The Long Duet". I really can't describe it - both readers were wonderful, but my father is a retired English professor and now a published and quite wonderful poet, so while the poem itself is splendid - his reading was exquisite.

We wrote our own vows, and while I won't quote them I will give you the opening of each. Nicole's began "When I met you you looked like a homeless Jesus", while my was "I met Nicole in a blaze of blonde". Intensely personal is my best description of the entire ceremony, and absolutely wonderful. Following a night of great food and much merriment, Nicole and I escaped to Chicago for 2 days, then returned to our regular lives of school, teaching, work, and her current "night job" of music directing Jekyll and Hyde.

We had about a week to enjoy the married life and then it was time to go to the hospital. As you may have read before, I was diagnosed with gall bladder disease and after a surgical consult we decided to take that sucker out. If you have had abdominal surgery before it isn't much fun, but the Vicodin helps. The only downside is that I am tired all the time (which is actually normal for me), so perhaps this is my body's way of making me nap more.