Graceful

On the 7th of May, we performed a benefit concert in Ballina, Ireland for the Mayo Cancer Support Center there. This concert took place with another choir and so we only sang the first half of the concert, they did the second and we did a piece together at the end of the night...

Unfortunately, about 3 pieces into the concert, one of our members fainted 3/4 of the way through the piece. It was the first night we had performed Agnus Dei in front of an audience and we followed up that song with Eric Whitacre's Waternight. It was Waternight that witnessed this event, right on the line that reads "If you close your eyes". Talk about perfect timing, huh?

If you haven't already guessed, that choir member, was me. It was the first time I ever fainted in performance and I still haven't heard the end of it, and today is several nights later. I began blacking out, and thought that I could make it to the end of the song, and then go sit down, but, this did not happen. I have no memory of what happened approximately 8 measures before I went down, and I've heard several versions of what happened from almost every member of the choir.

Here's the basics: I took about 2 1/2 steps out from the choir (I was standing in the front row), I looked up at something on the ceiling, and raised my hand like I wanted to grab something, then kind of staggered to the ground in what's been dubbed a "Princess Faint".

When I came to, apparently I was smiling, but I didn't know what had happened or why everyone was asking if I was okay, until Chris looked me in the face and said "You fainted." Then, I was so embarrassed that I started to cry, and Willy Ray took me over to the front row on the side to sit with him for the rest of the concert. Up until then I'd been thinking "why are you waking me up, I was sleeping!" and "Why am I on the ground?" and "Where am I?"

They all took really good care of me, Garrett even asked if I'd eaten anything since falling and got me some brown bread from the hotel bar (yum!). I did not have a concussion, thank goodness, I have a non-visible bruise on my eyebrow from where my head hit the dance floor, and a visible one on my thigh from where my hip hit the floor. There's some smaller bruises on my arm and leg, but I'm totally fine, and nothing major has happened since that would give me pause or a cause to worry.

It is nice, however, to know that when I faint, which isn't often, I do it gracefully and simply slide downward to the floor (the last time I fainted was in a Presbyterian church service and I slid out of a chair!)