Summer Blues

At the beginning of May, while looking at my phone, I fell down the stairs at my house.

I dislocated my foot. My foot basically came off and went to the far right at a 90-degree angle inside my skin. I also broke my ankle in several places. Good times.

This was by far, not my first trip to a hospital. My familiarity with surgeries and hospitals has become banal at best. My foot was reset (after an insane amount of pain pills) and I had surgery. I now have 3 metal rods in my ankle. I'm a bionic woman.

My pal(s) foot foot

It is now August, and I am finally castless and crutchless, and fully weight-bearing, albeit in a boot, but I am weaning off that as well.

This self-imposed downtime the past three months brought back memories of COVID lockdown, the part where the novelty had long worn off and stir craziness abounded. But at least then, I could walk. I could take a drive. I didn't have to depend on others. I wasn't an invalid.

I am a very impatient person. Patience is a virtue I was not born with, nor one that comes naturally to me. Waiting through this healing process was a real challenge for me.

I'd love to say I used this time to better myself and read 100 books. I did a bit of that. I mainly played music, learned Tarot, tried to practice gratitude and patience, and today, I finally read a book. I had started several these past three months but this is the only one I actually finished.

Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon was a great read, and I may do a separate blog post on that book later.

When I broke my foot, everything Heather and I had been working toward musically this past year came to a full stop. We had to cancel our slot at Athfest, our show at the Nowhere Bar, and the recording session for the UDDER album. The timing couldn't have been worse, or better?

This foot-mandated halt was a gift. It caused Heather and I to reevaluate what we wanted in a band. We want to make great music, play with people as into it as we are, but most of all we want it to be fun. It was a perfect stopping place for disbanding UDDER, and starting something new. IMPERIAL FRIEND was born.

practicing in my living room before I could make it downstairs- Heather Jones Lotti is a saint, btw

Since May, we have continued to play, have written even more songs, and have been interviewing and auditioning guitarists. More on the guitarist search to come, but I think we may finally be seeing a light at the end of that tunnel.

One of our newer songs is called Summer Blues. I have had a lot of crappy traumatic summers the past five years, and this one was no exception. But, I'm going to try and look at this particular summer and my injury from the viewpoint of Kintsugi, the Japanese art of mending broken pottery with gold. The gist of the philosophy is- flaws and scars enhance the value of both objects and experiences. There is beauty in resilience. And, we don't need to hide our broken parts, maybe show them off even.

So, I'm not going to hide how hard this has been. I’m going to show my scars proudly, and keep on keeping on. Maybe it will inspire someone out there to do the same.

We can't wait to share the newest songs and lineup with everyone and hope to be out and about playing shows again this fall. See you there!

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Luv,

SBC