Baltimore

Spent most of Saturday indoors watching my gals -- the ladies from my former chorus, Pride of Portland, COME IN FOURTH PLACE IN THE WORLD in international competition. Congratulations, women!! Why did this have to happen AFTER I left the chorus?

I did have mixed feelings as I was walking to meet Drew and Rachel for dinner. Luckily, Dad had the absolutely perfect response, "Think of it this way, Lis. If you'd been there, they would have come in third."

Really, it was exactly what I needed to hear at the time. Thanks, Dad!

I brought Drew and Rachel to the after-chorus party, and Rachel worked the room -- she has several grownup-looking conversations with people, and when a couple of the quartets go up to sing, she sat behind them on the risers, chin in her hands, looking intently at them. Oh, I hope this settles in and she decided she wants music in her life when she grows up. I love the idea of someday coming to HER performances when both of us are, um, older.

We ended up leaving the part way late -- 10:30! and luckily Rachel fell asleep in the car.

As she was getting ready for bed, she said to Drew, "I'm wouldn't want to be rich."
"Good," Drew replied bluntly. "Because we're not."
"Because if you had to store all that money," she explained, "you wouldn't have enough room for BOOKS!"

True, dat.