This morning...

As long as I'm documenting my life this month, let me introduce you to the women I spend 5 hours a day with - affectionately referred to as The Symphony Babes

The three on the left are Lindas (yep, three Lindas) then Sara, and Beth. This being a non-profit organization, we all need to have one or more additional gigs on the side to make ends meet.  One is a local actor, one an elected official, one an advertising executive, one an actual musician!  A more different group of women you'd never find, but we do connect on one level... wine. Oh and the fact that we somehow manage to put on about 20 symphony and symphony-related concerts a year.  Sure, the musicians do play a part - but we make it happen!

It's a great place to work because there is no shortage of drama, and stories, and opinions and we have bonded closely over this past year and a half ... it's a shame I just gave my two weeks notice. More on that another time. 

Right now, I'll focus on the leader of this bevy of broads, my friend and boss, in the center (of course) Linda. I think I'll miss her most of all. She has endured probably the messiest and most grueling divorce I have ever witnessed. We've helped her through two of her soon-to-be ex-husband's suicide attempts; gutting and refurbishing basically every room in her house so it could be sold, and any number of minor by comparison disasters that seem to crop up.  Through it all, she's kept everything running, continues to administer a local soup kitchen and their fund raisers, actively participate on the school board, and the Symphony continues to thrive, AND, she's even lost 40 pounds to boot, so she looks fabulous.  I hate her.

From time to time, when one of us has something that keeps us from coming into the office, we send a group email explaining the situation.  These emails usually have the subject "This Morning." The ones from Linda can contain anything from news about the suicide attempts, to the house renovation details, to printer disasters the night before a concert, and about once a week - something disastrous that has happened to her car. Here is an example of the one from today: 

TO:  Symphony Babes
FROM: Linda
RE:  This Morning

Good morning Ladies and Quitter! (oh, yes, you'll be getting more of this in the next 3 weeks...)
 
I swear I should patent my ass and put it out for hire - for $100, I'll sit in the driver's seat of your enemy's car for one hour.
 
Apparently the mechanic hasn't solved the mystery of my car overheating yet. My son Keith and I made it to Oak Creek (to pick up pheasants for the soup kitchen fundraiser) when steam started pouring out of the hood. Coolant had boiled dry, we sat for quite a while to let it cool down after I got the cap off, then made it to a gas station to buy a gallon to dump in. Smoking again by the time we got home, so clearly it's time for me to wreck another one of Dani's rental cars.
 
I planned to come in early, work on the program, go to the Holiday Pops meeting with Jane and Theatre B, come back to the office for a bit more, then leave around 11:00 before I have to leave for Bemidji for my consulting gig. I think I'm just going to have to give the office a miss today, except to pop in for a few minutes. With all my adventures last night, I didn't get the stuff done that I needed to in order to be ready for this afternoon.
 
I think I am in good shape with the program, though. Roster and music pages are done, John will have his notes to me Monday, and now that I can cut/paste the donor lists, it will be pretty quick work. Ad pages are virtually done, so I think we will be ready for an actual test run Monday afternoon when they come in to install that part.
 
Posters - how many are left to take around? I didn't see one at Hornbachers Express last night, maybe someone could take that batch if that gal is not going to show. Also, PLEASE make sure there is one at the Plains and Green Market, BernieBernieBernie mentioned that on my FB wall, argh.
 
See you latah,L

Gosh I'm gonna miss them!