An Omen (of sorts)

This past week has been one marked by illness, my first official confrontation with a cold of the season (and, for that matter, the first I can remember for quite some time).  This was one of those affairs that made it almost impossible to sleep, and any sleep I did get came in intervals of less than an hour.  The timing was such that it did not seriously interfere with any of my Examiner.com writing commitments, but it threatened to ruin a vacation that my wife and I had planned for the beginning of this week down in Morro Bay.  Having blocked out the time on my calendar, I really did not want to see the whole thing ruined.

We were scheduled to leave yesterday morning and had passed the cancellation threshold for the place where we had reserved a room.  The previous night had been rough, but the morning brought a bit more sleep than had been the case since the onset of the cold.  I felt I was close enough to getting out of the woods that we could make the trip and was able to help matters along by spending much of the time in the car dozing.

While I do not believe in omens, there was an amusing coincidence about our arrival.  We had reserved at a place called Ascot Suites.  My first impression upon entering the lobby was that the background music was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's final symphony, his K. 551 in C major.  This symphony has been somewhat of a life-force for me.  I have been working on it with my four-hand partner;  and, while the reduction we are playing hardly does it justice, we have been enjoying the opportunity to poke around in this particular symphony's "engine room."  So, while Morro Bay can hardly lay claim to being the "Mozart capital of California," his presence in the lobby felt like a welcoming gesture, even if it was a metaphorical one.

Last night was my first good night of sleep since the cold began its grip.  I may not be entirely out of the woods, but I feel that I have returned to a better approximation of getting on in the world.  Sometimes those metaphors can work a deeper level of psychological magic!