September 11, 2009

5:56 p.m.

Chickens Roosting on the Back of a Bench

First rehearsal back with the band last night. It was actually lovely. Carol brought homemade chicken vegetable soup and bread, and we ate first and talked about the summer, her week-long silent retreat at Omega, my house, what we'd all been thinking about music and how to get back to the source. Naturally we were rusty trying to remember songs, but we did better than I expected and it was just beautiful to sing in that empty dining room. We found ourselves gathering in the middle under the ceiling light, singing in a tight triangle to each other. We also strategized ways to get new material into the sets. And my fingers didn't hurt quite as much as I expected.

So I have leapt back into the music world, and today had an appointment for another insurance inspection. I may have mentioned that my initial carrier dropped us, and that policy is cancelled as of midnight tomorrow. A State Farm rep gave me a really good quote and came out today to give me a quick yes or no, knowing I had a time constraint.

The work we've done so far showed up very well, and I did certain things to make the house look more habitable and "fixed." However, the two issues that won't let it pass are the roof on the ell, and the bad paint. In some spots the wood is showing through, and she was very good about explaining why they look for certain things and why the moisture barrier is important, etc. I told her Travelers was the company they had offered me as a second choice, though the premium was considerably higher. She assured me that Travelers wouldn't pass the house; they only do an ouside walk-around and these worst issues are all they'll base it on. But, she said, it'll take a number of weeks for that next cancellation letter to arrive. Therein she helped me come up with a plan to buy time while I figure out a way to deal with these expensive issues that we weren't going to do until next year.

She said, call your agent and find out if Travelers will bind the contract immediately. At least then you're covered. Then you have one to two months to see if you can scrape and prime your house, and get the ell reroofed. If you can't and if they reject you after that time, she said, call me back and I can at least get you on the State policy for a while -- you don't want to stay there because it's expensive and the coverage is not as good -- but it's a way to have time to get work done. Of course by then it'll be getting cold and nasty to work outside, so I'm going to get mobilized on this right away.

And if Travelers doesn't reject us, I can still move over to State Farm when the house is passable and get the better rate.

Pesky, and disappointing, but I am determined. I have my big girl pants on and am no longer cowed by representatives. They are here to help me, and I will do what I have to do. Somehow. I'll figure it out.

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All of this is probably why I awoke around 2:30 this morning with the worst stomach ache I've ever had, which did not subside until nearly 8:00am. I was starting to think I was in some kind of organ failure. My guts were just clenching! I couldn't stand up straight or take a deep breath. I texted Marc and said I wouldn't be coming in to work. I finally called Dar and confessed my fears to him, about touring again, about the insurance and all the money we are having to come up with in the continued absence of the tax check. I said, I wish my body would just let it go, because this is the way it is, everything is fine, and causing me extreme pain and agony will not make it any better! He said to talk to my body, and then he had to get on the subway so would call me later. My phone died then and I had to wrench myself painfully out of bed to go downstairs again and get the other battery.

By the time I got downstairs, I had almost no pain suddenly. And in five minutes, it was completely gone, and stayed gone all day.

Dar was my witness. I thanked him later and thought about "whenever two or more of you are gathered," and why it's important to do things together. It just works better.

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Because by the time I felt better it was too late to go to work and then turn around and leave by noon for this appointment, I played guitar and worked on songs in the morning. I actually wanted to. I pulled out a couple in-progress ones from a couple of years ago that we had talked about, and with the encouragement from the band at my back, made a little headway on them. It was just like putting on an old, beloved coat. I also found a poem I'd written at MacDowell which I'd completely forgotten about, that was so lovely I cried reading it. Might be a song in there.

And now I'm going to take my happy stomach and go home and have the rest of the leftover Indian food that Wes and I got earlier this week. It's just superlative. Oh, I don't think I've written about his visit; I'll get to that next time.