Chapter Eleven: In which Spencer and I listen to an E.M. Skinner Organ with 7000 pipes at the Old South Church

Hello everyone,

So this week was characterized by a lot of highs and lows in contrast to each other. It began with a breakdown over a project I just couldn't seem to finish (I did get it turned in on time by the way), which led me to finally admitting to my Gender, Sexuality, and Mormonism professor that I was having a hard time. And then on Tuesday, I visited the gynecologist to put in an IUD in order to stop using my birth control pills which were affecting my epilepsy medication. And let me tell you, I felt sooooooo queasy and crampy and not wonderful! When I finally felt well enough to leave (after much kindness and attentiveness on the part of my doctor and nurse and some juice and fig newtons) I slowly walked to campus for another class. No rest for the weary. But, silver lining, because I was walking so slowly, I was able to take time to look at the beautiful European Studies Garden on my way to class and collect some autumn leaves. :) It has also been very overcast all week, so it was a lovely grey, hazy mist sort of week, which I always love.

I finished off the week by having a rather traumatic experience in one of my classes (things people argued, the aggressive way in which it was argued, so on and so forth). After class, I was able to sit with a friend of mine, offer comfort and solace, and process what had happened. While I wouldn't want to repeat the stifling class experience or the teary frustration we both experienced (don't worry, I'm going to talk to the professor), I am so grateful that my relatively new friend and I were able to step up and take care of each other. It is incredible to me that one can know another so little and still have it within their power to offer a listening ear, a hug, a hand, and empathy. I am grateful I had the opportunity to do so and that I was in the right place at the right time.

Anyway, time for the headline story of the week. Spencer and I spent our first day in Boston! My Noon Service choir director is Harry Huff, who works part-time as the music director at Harvard Divinity and full-time as the music director and organist at Old South Church. Well, Spencer had the chance to work with some pretty swell organists as a stage manager at BYU (for example, we saw the Mormon Tabernacle Choir organist improvise an entire accompaniment, sounds and all, to a silent Buster Keaton film), and I love the organ, so I thought to ask Harry when his next performance was. It turns out that he usually does an amazing Halloween affair every year but that this year he had to cancel. But he enthusiastically invited Spencer and me to come to the Old South Church for a private recital. He was already hosting a small group on Friday 21, so we decided to join in then.

The Old South Church is in Copley Square (where Trinity Church and the Boston Public Library is, near the riverfront and Boston commons), and it marks the finish line of the Boston Marathon. The day arrived, Spencer and I took the subway into Boston and had the most moving and awe-inspiring experience listening to Harry on his massive E.M. Skinner organ. He began by telling us all about the history of the organ, specifically this one and otherwise, and about the history, architecture, and purpose of the church itself.

Fun Facts:

• They bought the E.M. Skinner organ from someone in Michigan in the 1980s for a dollar (hope I'm not mistaken), but it cost a few million to disassemble, transport, and install the organ. 
• The largest pipe is a low C that is 32 feet long and literally rumbles the sanctuary when it is sounded. 
• The organ has just under 7000 pipes placed in the front center of the sanctuary behind a screen, the front left and right corners of the sanctuary, and in the back of the sanctuary.
• It has a budget of $60,000 dollars a year just for foreseeable maintenance. They don't always use it all, so they roll it over in case of large repairs. But they also have an emergencies budget.
• Boston is one of three places in the world that had world-class organ experiences, including world-class organs and a concert hall with an organ installed. (New York, including Carnegie Hall, doesn't even have organs in their concert halls.) 
• The Old South Church Skinner organ is a pipe organ, just to clarify. The pipes could sound a full orchestra of sounds, woodwinds, strings, brass, etc., as well as carillon bells. And because the pipes were in different parts of the room Harry could make the instruments converse with each other.

Then he played us Bach's Tocatta and Fugue in D Minor. Incredible. The room actually rumbled. I've already alluded to the different sounds of the organ, but after playing Bach, Harry walked us through all the sounds on the organ playing different classical and jazz segments to demonstrate each section of sound. He finished by playing us other Halloween songs like a Hitchcock song, the first Harry Potter theme, Night On Bald Mountain, and the theme from The Exorcist. It was so incredible. We didn't hear the music with all the special effects of a typical concert (which are free! Crazy!), but if you want to hear the songs on the E.M. Skinner organ, here is a link to the Old South Church's recording. The songs we hear take you to 24:40 on the 2015 Halloween concert recording. http://www.oldsouth.org/music-clips Needless to say, Harry Huff is beyond generous and is very kind and genial.

After he finished, he made sure we knew all the places we should visit in Copley square, pointing us to specific floors in the Boston Public Library and to the Boston Women's Memorial. So that's where we headed next. Here are some highlights of what we did.

• We began at the Boston Public Library where we saw a Shakespeare exhibit (original folios and everything!) and walked through the wall murals. There were murals about Sir Galahad, philosophy, poetry, the evolution of religion. Stunning!

• We visited the Mall on Commonwealth Avenue (a public area often set with shade trees and designed as a promenade or as a pedestrian walk, usually paved or grassy strip between two roadways. Yay Merriam Webster!). That's where the Bostom Women's Memorial was, which featured Abigail Adams, Phillis Wheatley, and Lucy Stone.

• We walked through some of the lovely neighborhoods on Marlborough and Beacon Streets. And yes, tree roots do grow through the brick walkways.

• We ended our day in the Back Bay by walking the Charles River Esplanade, watching the sailboats and rowers on the river in the overcast dusk, eventually getting caught in the rain and making our way back to the subway, where we got to talk to a man who also lives in Belmont named Jeff who has done a lot of international development. He and Spencer had a great conversation. And all because the man was curious about my Jerusalem bag. 

So there you have it: our first day in Boston! Spencer and I ended our day date with Mexican food at Felipe's Taqueria in Harvard Square. Super yummy pork tamales, but man it is so crowded. We also grabbed a cranberry ginger lemonade at the Shake Shack for dessert. It was super interesting, quite refreshing and lovely to say the least. It was pouring rain as we made our way over to Kris and Laura's apartment to watch the Hamilton PBS documentary. Being with friends, eating desserts, and watching the documentary was a blast! I thought the documentary was well done and Laura's salty caramel brownies were wonderful. There is just something singular and spectacular about hanging out with divinity students. The inside humor of divinity students is a delight; I'm going to have to put some thought into figuring out how to describe it. 

The last exciting episode of our day was actually getting home. A severe flood warning was sent out while we were all watching the Hamilton documentary, leaving Spencer and me unsure of how the bus system would work out. Eric had arrived quite late because the bus he had ridden had suddenly stopped and told everyone to get out, so he got out. I'm glad he did make it though because he is definitely one of the most adorable and affectionate people I have ever met, just all around good-humored. Well, after walking through a deluge of rain and flooded roads, Spencer and I made it to the station, and, with an immense amount of luck, we made it home.

Till next time.

Chapter Ten: In which I am the craftiest, Epilepsy gets real, I lose my wallet, and the pumpkin season starts

Hello everyone! It has been nearly three weeks and I apologize. It is devilishly difficult to stay up with blogging one's life when one can only very nearly stay up with living one's life. But, I persevere, and hopefully, the result is satisfactory. You be the judge.

Okay, let's launch in. A lot has happened.

Let's begin on a high note. I am a crafting genius! Just kidding. In reality, I'm simply a crafting enthusiast. I may have mentioned it before, but early on in deciding my stay-sane activities, I decided to join the HDS Creative Commons group. We quickly manifested as three or four particularly dedicated crafters (knitting, baking, scrapbooking, crocheting, embroidering, etc.) who meet every week to every other week and craft, snack, and be friends. I'm now really good friends with Seanjoon and Sophia, and I can honestly say that this has been a lifeline emotionally, socially, and mentally. Also, with the help of a great Joann's sale and Abby Grout's original genius in teaching me this pattern, I finished a baby blanket I've been working on for ages . . . just cause and because I had extra yarn. It is patterned after a full-size afghan I made that pretty much looks identical, hence the extra yarn. (You'll see it in other pictures.) But anyway, gaze at it! Gaze at its beauty! No pressure to look at it longer than you want to . . . I'm just super proud of it. :) But pride cometh before the fall, so I hope that my next project isn't a total dud. Anyway, on to other things.

So Epilepsy has been a consistent theme these past few weeks. I woke up the morning of September 25, and my tongue hurt. I was physically exhausted. And though I may never be able to adequately explain this sensation, I was disoriented like I'd woken up for the first time in a familiar place and had to shake away the cotton film over my memories and remember why this place felt right and figure out why I felt wrong. Spencer rolled over, noticed I awake, and told me gently that I had had another seizure. Depression. Fear. Pain. Somehow my tongue always seems to hurt more once I've been told I've had a seizure.

I've had a series of moments when it's just hit me that I really am Epileptic. This was one of them. Reality set in. This was my fifth seizure. It hadn't followed the previous patterns of a triggered seizure and something like an aftershock a month later. It had just happened. I was scared; they were becoming more frequent just like my doctor father-in-law, Doug, had told me they would. I decided that instant that I was more scared of letting my seizures actually impede my normal life than I was of taking my medication. I started my medication. Luckily, I had already scheduled a doctor's appointment with my PCP, Dr. Shannon McGinty. And now I would have something new to tell her.

When Friday rolled around, I sat down with Dr. McGinty and told her story from the beginning. We talked about my fears, about methods of birth control that wouldn't affect my epilepsy medication, she gave me a list of medications to be wary of taking or to avoid taking along with Lamotrigine/Lamictal. She set up a referral for a neurologist, an MRI, and a Gynecology appointment. Basically, she was the nicest lady ever.

Here is a classic capture of New England at its finest. Foilage,
little house, craggy rock walls, and even a lantern.

So life continued. I was now taking my medication, so I felt pretty Epileptic every morning around 8:00, but beyond that (and my horrifically painful healing tongue), things went back to normal. We will now pause this story for a moment to introduce another few high points in the time between these medical events and the next few medical events, namely dinner and General Conference!

So over time, Spencer and I have been invited to quite a few dinners by lovely members of our Belmont ward who have wanted to get to know us better. This time, we were invited to eat with the Bagleys, and we had a lovely time talking about all the things. They noticed that the missionaries didn't have anyone signed up for dinner that night, so they invited them as well, and we had a birthday cheesecake and sang to one of the Elders because . . . you guessed it! it was his birthday. It was such a lovely evening. I think Laura and I will be good friends. And General Conference! The first session, women's session, the week before had been so lovely, and the last five sessions didn't disappoint either. I didn't fall asleep once! I sincerely felt like many of the talks addressed questions I'd been pondering since beginning my studies at Harvard Divinity School, and I am very grateful for the guidance.

With Conference past and my homework only barely managed due to the time I dedicated to watching all the sessions, the next week began. I hadn't yet called the neurology department to set up an appointment because the weekend had been rather busy. Monday proved busy as well. Tuesday morning I decided that I really needed to call today. Dr. McGinty had warned me that they were usually booked out a few months so I might not be able to get in until December. She told me that she would try to get me seen sooner though. So it's not like I was in a rush to schedule that December appointment since Dr. McGinty would probably get me a sooner appointment anyway, but I felt that it was rather imperative that I call that morning even so. Sure enough, the receptionist told me they were full until December. I was about to say, "Okay," when she said, "Wait . . . you wouldn't be able to come in today at 4:30 by chance, would you? It looks like someone just canceled." On Tuesdays, my classes end at 4:00. When I replied that I could indeed make that time, she laughed and said how fortunate that was and how perfectly that had worked out. Coincidental anyone? Miracle anyone?

Less than an hour later, the MRI technician's receptionist called me and scheduled my MRI for that Friday. And then right after that, the Gynecology department called an scheduled my IUD appointment (IUDs are one method of birth control that doesn't affect my medication since the IUD is localized) for two weeks later. Yay, all the doctors!!!

So at 4:30 pm I go to my miracle appointment with Dr. Kendall. He has me explain everything. Essentially, since we already know I have epilepsy (diagnosed once a patient has more than two seizures), he was trying to see if my epilepsy was categorize-able. Well, the defiant side of me is happy to announce that I could not be categorized! The practical side of me is mystified. Seriously, I defy all the consistent symptoms: I bite my tongue, but I don't experience incontinence for example, which excludes me from one type of epilepsy. Anyway, Dr. Kendall was extremely thorough and very considerate. Because my symptoms are not consistent with any categorized types of Epilepsy, Dr. Kendall is going to have me get a 24-hour EEG, so that he can collect and study more data regarding my case. (I'll be sure to take pictures when I receive it in early November.) He also switched me to a type of Lamictal (the non-brand name for the drug I take) that has extended release, meaning that I only need to take it once a day instead of twice a day. Yay! He talked me through everything, driving restrictions, things to know regarding my medication, pregnancy on the drug, smart practices now that I am epileptic, etc. I seriously love my doctors!  

You'll notice that the sister missionaries came to see how we share our beliefs at HDS.

Another pause for a highlight unrelated to epilepsy. At HDS we have a weekly worship service that is hosted by the religious and non-religious groups on campus. The host group rotates and the Wednesday after Conference it was the LDS students turn to host. We opened with a choir piece, "I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go," had Joe introduce the concept of General Conference, sang an interlude, "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing," had Emily provide a thought based on a conference talk, then had Amy close with another thought based on conference, sang "Let the Holy Spirit Guide" in closing, and then I gave the benediction. It was really lovely. Afterwards, someone came up to me and said, "I wish every person of faith prayed as sincerely as you just did," and another person said, "Thank you, Natalie, for one of the most beautiful prayers I've heard--if all of our prayers were so sincere, I wonder how our worship services (and personal lives) would be transformed!" Another person told me that they were touched by how eloquently I prayed. So good to know that I said a good prayer. And considering the fact that I was sweating bullets and nearly stuttering I was so nervous, I was grateful for the heartfelt compliments. Others commented on how inclusive the service was, how they felt that this noon service was really special, etc. It was really a marvelous experience.

So Friday rolls around and it's time for my MRI. (Three medical appointments in one week!) So I put on comfy clothes, pray that I won't get claustrophobic, and take the bus to the site. And I rocked it! I listened to jazz the whole time, it took 30 minutes, and I didn't move once! But I didn't know that they were going to IV me halfway through to pump contrast into my veins to adjust what they could see on the images, so no fun. I whimpered a lot the rest of the day. But I prayed and prayed (I hate needles, often pass out, and sometimes get super nauseated), and I was okay. Nick, my technician, was really nice (seriously, nicest medical professionals here), and he even used a smaller needle, which isn't standard, just to be considerate. So I survived. I then took the bus to pick up my prescription, and then headed to Starbucks to grab some sort of pastry treat because I deserved one for being so brave. When I went to pay for my Iced Lemon Loaf though, my wallet was gone. I searched for a half hour very calmly. (Obviously I was trying to slow the internal freak out so I wouldn't melt into a pile of tears.) I retraced my steps to everywhere I'd been from the pharmacy, where I'd last had my wallet for sure, to Starbucks. I asked multiple businesses along my route if it had been brought in to their store. It was gone. I could only get internet in Starbucks and Spencer's phone isn't working, so I sat down on a side bench and emailed Spencer my dire situation. Three bank cards were gone (Debit, Credit, and ATM cards), my student ID was gone, my Utah Driver's licence was gone, my health care cards were gone, my Charlie Card for the bus system was gone. And I had no cash, meaning I had no way to get home unless Spencer came with cash to help me. Here's to hoping he'd get my email. I was very distraught and the bruise forming around my stuck vein was hurting when I saw an email pop into my inbox. (Thank heaven for Starbucks free wifi!) It was from the Harvard University Police Department. They'd found my wallet! I called the number in the email, secured a meeting spot, and met the two police officers waiting by their car. They were very kind, had me check my wallet to make sure all my cards were there (they were), and I was on my way, having only narrowly avoided a heart attack and an embarrassing display of tears in a public place. Oh! And I bought my iced lemon loaf.

Because my post has already waxed quite long, I'll just touch on the other things that have occurred since the HUPD miraculously found my wallet. 

Bags of winter clothes we sorted for the incoming refugees.

Monday was Columbus Day or Indigenous Peoples Day, and the religious organizations in the area collaborated to pull off an event called Belmont Serves. We had a small breakfast, signed up for one of four service options (landscaping, fence painting, collecting food donations, or sorting clothing donations for the refugees coming into Lowell), and set to work. Spencer and I sorted clothes along with Colleen Good sell for the next three or so hours. Then we had pizza and ice cream (ice cream donated by the local ice cream business Rancatores). It was so wonderful! A great way to spend a holiday.

On Wednesday, I ended up singing a solo during Noon Service (I'm in the choir), and I think it went well. :)

Here is the larger original afghan that I promised to feature.

Monday evening, Spencer and I spent our family home evening reviewing political candidates and issues and planning out the steps we would need to take to vote in Massachusetts. Spencer had made our first pumpkin chocolate chip cookies of the season the night before.

Friday, Spencer and I got on the bus, stopped by Target, and went to the RMV. We quickly discovered that Spencer would be unable to accomplish his task because his proof of address wasn't valid. He returned home to continue errands. I stayed and waited for two hours to try and switch my license and register to vote. Well, the good news is that I was able to register to vote. The bad news is that I didn't know how to honestly answer the questions about being on any medications that affect driving or having neurological disorders that make me unfit. First off, me being epileptic is rather new, so I don't really know how that affects my license application. Second, I don't even have a car and I take public transit, so I'm not even going to be driving, I just want to prove that I'm a Massachusetts citizen with an ID. Anyway, I walked away without a license. And I'll admit that I cried. But as far as I know, I can vote, so who cares about driving!

I had to navigate my way through a protest to get to work after the incident at the RMV. The Harvard dining services have been on strike for the past few weeks, so that was exciting. 

Friday night, a lot happened Friday, we went to a "Welcome to the Ward" dinner given by the bishop and other ward leaders and got to know Maryn and Nate. Very lovely!

I went to Starbucks with Heather, my lovely Buddhist nun Mormonism-loving friend. We got pumpkin spice hot chocolate, and it was delicious! Being friends outside of class is possible. :)

Tonight, Spencer and I went to a dinner with a bunch of new families in our ward hosted by Heather and Dave Sundahl. It was so fun! And the food was delicious. (Because pumpkin things are great, I will mention a delicious pumpkin curry that we had at dinner. So very scrumptious.) Great conversation. Heather, who is the President of Exponent II, loaded me up with issues of Exponent II and helped me come up with a paper topic for my Gender, Sexuality, and Mormonism class since I've been struggling with that and it is due tomorrow. So great!

  

Oh! And Spencer cut his hair. Soooo different! Here is the pre-haircut shot and the post-haircut shot. Enjoy. 

Spencer and I have so many fun things scheduled for the next few weeks! A private organ recital by Harry Huff at the Old South Church and then exploiting that part of Boston, a theater broadcast of NTLive's Frankenstein, the PBS documentary about Hamilton, a tour of Salem for Halloween, a trip to Walden Pond for some Autumn leaf peeping along with Apple Cider from a local farm/apple orchard, and lots of other fun things!

So there you have it! That is the past three weeks in my life. I hope to have a few shorter posts instead of one giant one since a lot is going in the next few weeks. In the meantime, have a lovely fall season, enjoy Halloween, and go eat some pumpkin-y things!