I was about two hours into composing when Eileen texted me from China yesterday. She was wondering about a large check we had received in the mail for our son-in-law from Harvard. The last time I had seen it was on the fridge. It wasn’t there. I began frantically to search for it and did so for at least two more hours. Finally I texted back to her that we must have lost it because it was no where to be found. By this time, she was sound asleep in China as it was night there.

Needless to say, this left me feeling incompetent. I did manage to revive my composing after a while. But I’m still unsure I will have it done in time. Pushing a composition leaves no time for the usual back and forth about whether it’s any good or not. I can only forge ahead and trust my creating as it happens with little time for deep consideration of what it’s worth. I guess that’s a luxury anyway.

I calculate I have about two and half minutes of music so far, not all of it completely sketched yet. Rhonda asked for three minutes.

I’m pretty sure I can make this piece. I’m just not sure I can polish it in time. I will probably hand over whatever I have when at least one version is complete.

This morning Eileen told me that she remembered she had mailed the check to Yale to forward to China even though we were supposed to hang on to it. Whew.