TCATS #380 - All In

There were several times this week in which my kids engaged me in various conversations. Most of these happened later at night when the day was near done and I was really tired. For some of these conversations, I was able to pull myself out of my fatigue-induced cloudy indifference and be a true participant. For some though, the conversations were one-sided as I half listened and piped up only occasionally with a lame "uh-huh" or "yeah" or "oh, interesting". I always feel bad about those experiences because I feel like I failed at one of my primary responsibilities and opportunities--being "all in" when my kids are wanting to share and engage and truly be heard. 

Being all in is certainly not limited to parents listening to kids. It's an important concept for all of us to master, regardless of the activity we're engaged in. I suspect that each of us could identify at least one thing over the past month that we only gave a partial effort to. And while we are not perfect and certainly have limitations, being all in is a goal worthy of our striving efforts to obtain.

There is some very deep irony in the fact that months before the pandemic hit, I was not all in when it came to the Tabernacle Choir. I was taking it for granted, getting a little impatient with how rehearsals were going, and oft times looked at my watch more than once just eager for it to be over. 

Do you think I wish that I would have been all in for those months leading up to the Choir being shut down?

Absolutely.

This long pause, though, has brought a perspective change. And it's one that I'm determined to keep. While I can't promise that I'll be all in, all of the time, I'm going to do my best. Not just for me, but for the overall mission of the Choir. Don't you think that people watching or listening to the Choir will be more uplifted and encourage and inspired if the choir members themselves are all in? I sure think so. Working hard, memorizing the music, humbly rehearsing, showing enthusiasm, striving to be more like Christ, and feeling love towards our fellow brothers and sisters is what being "all in" looks like to me. And as soon as this pause is over, that's what I'm going to try and do.

Until next time, God be with you.

TCATS #379 - When it Rains, it Pours

There have been a lot of, shall we say, temporal challenges lately in the Pitt home. None of them have been huge challenges, but the compilation of small to medium ones starts to make them feel like something big. 

Here is a smattering of them...

*About six weeks ago, I was in such a hurry to back out of the garage that I actually backed right into the garage door as it hadn't retracted all the way up yet. A stupid but costly mistake, and one that resulted in the garage door panel taking six weeks to get replaced and installed. 

*Centerville has been one of the cities along the Wasatch Front that has suffered from several wind storms lately. One last Fall and then two in the past few months. We lucked out in that there was no severe damage to our home, but there were some shingles that blew off our roof and we just didn't get around to replacing them. Fast forward to this week when we had not only another windstorm but a lot of rain as well. The next day, my wife discovered water dripping off the chandelier in the master bedroom--and we realized too late that we should have had a repair guy come out long before.

*Our washing machine the past month or two has started to sound awful during the spin cycle. It's now to the point that every time we do a load, we fear that whatever is about to break will actually break--which makes washing more unenjoyable than it already is. 

*My daughter called the other day just as I was about to get on a conference call at work and said that our Mazda had a flat tire and she needed some help knowing what to do. I drove down in the other car and we worked together to get the spare on and get it over to the tire shop to get it repaired. I had anticipated this happening because when I had taken it in to get serviced a few months ago, they had found a staple in the tire (lodged tightly and not causing any harm--at the moment).

When I think about all of these things along with several others, one of the themes that becomes evident is procrastination. We're all guilty of this to one degree or another but each of these incidents cited above could have been avoided if I had done things a little sooner. If I hadn't procrastinated doing some things last-minute, I wouldn't have been in such a hurry to get out of the garage. If we had called a roofer guy months ago, we wouldn't have had incurred the water damage. If I had gotten the tire looked at earlier, a flat tire wouldn't have become a reality at (and at an inconvenient time). And let's just hope that it's not too late to call the appliance repair place so they can salvage our washer!

In choir, procrastination can lead to increased stress and embarrassment. Typically we're given weeks to memorize songs that will be on our broadcasts, or the concerts we perform, or on General Conference. It's very easy to put off memorizing, but if you put it off too long, you put yourself into a stressful situation the day or two before the performance. And worse yet, sometimes you discover that despite your best efforts, you just can't quite get the words of the songs into your head. So then you go into the performance feeling unprepared, relying way too much on the guys around you, and setting yourself up for a possible camera close-up right at the very time you fail to get the words right!

The scripture (D&C 38:30) about "if ye are prepared, ye shall not fear" is a very wise scripture to hearken to. It's my hope that we can all do a little better at avoiding procrastination so that we will be much less likely to say "when it rains, it pours."

Until next time, God be with you.

TCATS #378 - Bitter Sweet Symphony

I'm back. 

Thanks for the break. I needed to gather my thoughts and figure out what would be best to write about going forward--until such time as the Tabernacle Choir actually meets again. And then once we do meet again, I'll continue relaying personal thoughts, observations, and insights about my journey with the Choir.

For now, I thought I could just talk about lessons I learn every week from my every day life. And then comment on how those lessons can relate to my past experiences with the Choir.

So let's get started with lesson #1.

Recently I took a new position at my place of employment. It's been a rather big change because I'm doing something I've never really done before. Sure, there are skills I've learned in years past that are helping me make this transition, but overall, it's new and has been filled with levels of stress I haven't felt in quite some time. 

One of the aspects of this new job is being on-call 24/7 for one week out of every three. My first on-call week was last week and I was a bundle of nerves. Even though it doesn't happen that often, there's always a chance I'll get a text from a pager service and have 15 minutes to reply to it. After replying, I have to kick into high gear to understand the problem, find the right resources to address the problem, and assure the customer that appropriate attention is being given to resolve the problem. 

The first night of being on-call was a very sleep-LESS experience.  Although I had tested my phone twice to make sure my ringer was sufficiently loud enough to wake me up, I still kept waking up about every hour to make sure I hadn't missed anything. Subsequent nights got better and thankfully my mind is now learning to shut off at night even though it has to simultaneously anticipate being jump-started with a sudden page.

Amidst all of the stress and trying to acclimate to being on-call and efficiently responding to "normal" customer escalations throughout the day, I quite unexpectedly discovered a new perspective on the law of opposites. 

One scripture in the Doctrine & Covenants says "for if they never should have bitter they could not know the sweet." How true I found that to be! As I ended my on-call duties this past Tuesday and handed that particular responsibility over to the next guy, I suddenly treasured my nights so much more than I had before! Going places without my laptop, enjoying moments without listening to my phone, running errands knowing I wouldn't get interrupted, spending time with family... These were all sweet feelings and ones that I would have taken for granted had I not experienced the "bitter" on-call reality.

One way this bitter-sweet lesson relates to my choir experience is thinking about the occasional recording process we sometimes engage in. I've mentioned that process several times on my blog, but man! It's a grueling one. It can literally take up to 2+ hours just to get one song fully recorded. The start-stop-fix-start again process just isn't very fun. But after it's over, regular rehearsals are suddenly much more appreciated. And when the recordings are finally released on CD and Spotify and Apple Music, etc, the bitter recording experience suddenly becomes all worth it. 

While I hesitate to say "Go do something hard!", I can tell you that going through hard things does, at the very least, cause you to appreciate life in a whole new way once that hard thing has passed. And while I'm not yet at the point where I can thank God for the bitter things, I can thank Him for the sweetness that follows. 

Until next time, God be with you.