Thoughtful Thursday: Break Chronicles - Day Six

I am feeling better.

This is a statement that I haven't been able to say since my birthday on May 21st when I woke up with a bronchitis taste in my cough and a fever. The fever broke after about a week and a half, but the cough, bronchitis taste, and lack of breathing ability continued. I've had two tests for COVID, influenza, and strep, a round of allergy tests that state that all the things that I am not allergic to any of the things that I thought I was allergic to, four chest x-rays, and two rounds of blood tests. Forty-six days of being sick is not my idea of a good way to start off a new year of my life. I am hoping that I am actually better and not just riding a medication wave.

The best thing about feeling better and being able to breathe without coughing is that I have experienced a renewed sense of creativity and energy. Yesterday, I hung two shelves and put up some small canvases that were left after I finished a gift for a friend of mine. I spent some time moving craft supplies around - most of that stuff is still on the floor of my craft room/office space. I am making progress on my organizational system. I've labeled some of the storage and am waiting to find homes for other things. I also spent some time making a cover for some of the paper signatures that I had made for another project. I still do not have chair for the crafting space, so I am not spending lots of time on that half of the room right now. I might leave my house today, I might not. We will see.

I am getting ready to go to the World Congress of Music Therapy later this month. This is something that I do every so often - go to the World Congress. I've been to two of them before - this will be my third. I am looking forward to going someplace I have never been before and to be around an international group of music therapists. I am presenting on a topic that I really enjoy thinking about - music therapy futurism. I need to spend some time looking at the Congress schedule to start mapping out my time at the conference. I will be traveling with my mom and sister and two family friends, so I want to spend time with them as well as spending time at the conference.

I am looking forward to this trip for several reasons. First of all, I get to be around other music therapists. I know many of the presenters from my work with the Online Conference for Music Therapy, Inc., and I have never actually been in the same room with them over the past 13 years. It will be nice to be around the actual people in the same rooms. Second, I get to use my passport. Each one of the passports that I have had in the past have had one trip in them. I am hoping that this passport will have more than just this trip in it, but who knows what will happen in the future? Third, I want some music therapy inspiration in my life. I have not been around the music therapy community much lately, and I miss it. Fourth, I get to spend some time with my family and friends in a place we have never been before. My quest during this trip? To try poutine. That's all. I will go with just about anything if I can try poutine during the week.

There you go.

LATER: I got my hair cut off today. It is the shortest length it has been since the 90's, I think. My neck is completely exposed. It is SO short, and I am just getting over the shock. We cut off 14 inches of hair before shaping what was left. One of the problems with cutting off so much hair is that the remaining hair just goes super curly and has to be tamed a bit before others can see the new "do." 

This was the first time in a very long time that I had some qualms about getting my hair cut. One of my stylists asked me once if I was ready for the psychological ramifications of cutting off all my hair. I had never really had any psychological ramifications before this morning. I can grow hair - lots and lots of hair. I grow it long so I can cut it off. Today, though, I had some feelings of "uh-oh." It's not the fault of the stylist. I got the cut I asked for - chin length hair layered not thinned. The hair at the top of my head is significantly shorter than chin length, but it will grow. That's the one thing I know about my hair - it will grow. For now, I will have to ration my shampoo and my conditioner and try my best not to brush down the entire length of my neck when I am brushing. These tend to be the biggest ramifications I experience after I cut all the hair off.

So, I am feeling better, I've lost lots of hair, and now it is time to finish up my break. I have a day and a half before the weekend. Three and a half days before I head back to work. Tomorrow is my next doctor's appointment - we will see what the doctor has to say about my healing process. I hope to get a bit more things finished around my home before I go back to the world of singing and making music with others, but I think I am ready to go back into my music therapy routines. It will be nice to sing without coughing and wheezing. 

Let's hope I can sign without coughing and wheezing.

Happy Thursday.