Oh. My. Gravy.

Yesterday morning while I was working on funeral flowers fast and furiously, the woman from the Composer's Guild called. I saw her name on the caller ID and immediately I started to panic inside. Actually, I've been in a state of panic all week, so I think my heart probably just stopped. Why would she be calling? Now? The concert to announce the winners isn't 'til Saturday. It's not like she can call me ahead of time and tell me if I won or lost. WHY IS SHE CALLING?

With immense trepidation I answered the phone.

Me: Hello?
Her: Paige?
Me: Yes? (Unless you're calling to tell me I lost. In that case, Paige isn't home right now.)
Her: This is Ruth from the Composer's Guild.
Me: Yes? (What could you possibly want Ruth?!)
Her: I'm sorry to be calling so late. Well, er, were you planning on coming to the concert Saturday?
Me: Yes? (Unless you're calling to say that the songs I submitted to the competition are in front of you now with a big, red "F" circled at the top. In that case I'm....moving out of the country.)
Her: Well we were wondering if you would perform at the concert?
Me: (There is no way I heard her right! Did she really just say what I think she said? Is my heart still beating?... NO!) Um...YES! Uh...What did you want me to perform?
Her: (Wanting to answer but not given a second to do so.)
Me: Something I wrote?!
Her: Well, yes. (You idiot!)
Me: A Christmas song?!
Her: Well, yes. (It IS a Christmas concert, so that would seem appropriate. Oh my heck. I'm made a horrible mistake calling her!)
Me: (Gee, I'm REALLY wishing right now that I'd written a Christmas song. Ever. I don't have a Christmas song. Say I don't have a Christmas song!) Yes! That would be amazing! (You idiot!)
Her: Great. What song will you be performing?
Me: (Great question, Ruth. Let's see...I don't have any Christmas songs so it shouldn't be too hard to narrow down.... You raving lunatic! What kind of a mess are you getting yourself into in a week that you already don't have one second to spare????) Um...Could I look at all my choices (that shouldn't take too long) and get back to you with my answer?
Her: That would be fine.
Me: (Boy, I am in a truck load of hot water now!) Great! I'll call you soon with my answer.
Her: Ok, that's fine. Thank you.
Me: Thank you! Bye.

So with that my day turned completely upside down. I grabbed my binders of songs and started sifting through them madly to see if any of them could POSSIBLY be considered a Christmas song. It wasn't looking good, I'm not going to lie. I called Callie for moral support. "Callie! sdofin wofiwenf osodfivnsofihnwo dfovidf ngofngoi o; nidsnfd ofiwpos pm!!!! Could any of my songs be considered a Christmas song?!?!"

Uhhhh... Ummmm.....

Great! I'm feeling better about things now! We discuss a few possibilities and I hung up to call my Love and tell him my big news.

I was working on funeral flowers, delivering funeral flowers, going through my songs in my head, wondering what on earth I was going to wear, and calling people I knew would say wonderful things like "You have worked so hard! You deserve this!) for the rest of the afternoon. But try as I might, I couldn't come up with an answer for Ruth.

Finally, at about 5:30pm, SHE called ME back. I had no choice but to come clean and beg for mercy. I told her my plight and that with this funeral and my daughter's school Christmas program in an hour, I just plain needed more time. Could I POSSIBLY call her in the morning? She was so kind about it. She agreed to give me a little more time.

After mini-me's Christmas program we came home to have prayers and scriptures. I had a scheduled rehearsal with the person that would be singing the song at 9:30pm. By 9:10pm I still had no idea what I was going to do. I finally ended up taking all the choices to the rehearsal. The singer, myself, my mom, and my sister were at my mom's kitchen counter until midnight hashing through one idea after another. In the end, we slightly altered "I Want Someone". I love that song! I have loved that song from the moment I wrote it (down).

So this morning I will call HER back and tell her that "it's on like donkey kong!" Tomorrow night, rather than just attend the Composer's Guild Christmas Concert, I'll be performing.