Day 48 - Lords of the Strings

Last night I set my alarm clock to wake me up for church. After a quick breakfast of strawberries and bananas, I got ready and walked to the United Church of Hyde Park, a Presbyterian denomination. It was a glorious morning, and I probably could have spent it just communing in nature, but I made it to church with 15 minutes to spare. The church is very large and traditional. The aisle took on a downward slope and the pews were set up in the stadium style. Probably because of the holiday weekend, the congregation was small, especially compared to how many people the church could hold. Once again there was no choir, they just sang hymns. Several people read from the Bible and the Reverend gave a sermon about being ready for change like the Hebrews were ready to leave Egypt after Passover. Other readings from the Bible emphasized loving your neighbor, I appreciated the messages. The highlight was two special musical selections from a local band composed of elderly string instrumentalists. The four musicians played the cello, the viola, and there were two violinists. I am not a huge fan of instrumental music, but I was enchanted by these musicians. The music was beautiful and the concentration that it takes to hold the instrument and move the bow at the right angle, all in front of a group of strangers, impressed me to no end.

After church, I stopped at Dunkin Donuts for one glazed donut. I decided to cut through the park on my way home and give my brother a call. We spent a little over an hour discussing our lives and giving each other unfiltered feedback. I told him that we disagree on alot of things but I will never deny that he is a fantastic conversationalist. He doesn't think about what he is going to say while you are talking, he listens and then responds with his point of view, it sounds simple but many people have not mastered this skill. When I left the park, I went home to have lunch and then go to the library with Rachna. Rachna had so much drama losing her ID and not having her laptop. I asked her to just sign me into the library and wished her luck with sorting it all out. Three hours later, she came back when I was on my way out. I like the University of Chicago library, it was full of students on Labor Day weekend! I sat in a quiet study room and completed about 85% of my first article.