All Things Anne

Yesterday I had a very very strange experience: I fainted. It was very weird.

Last Sunday, when we’d practiced music outside (our band is going to play for a party on the 29th), I’d felt sickish towards the end of the six hours, and finally at the end of one I got real dizzy. Fortunately, there was a chair behind me, because I’d felt sick and had sat down for a little bit, and I stumbled back to it and was pretty fine. But today…today was a different story. We weren’t out as long…maybe three or four hours this time, but it was hotter. Last week it was mid-to-high 90’s, today was low 100’s, and was 102 when we went inside.

So. I’d started feeling sickish again, but sat down between every song, and on the songs that only Dad sang, and was doing pretty well until Treasures in Heaven, when all of us girls sing it twice in a row. Well, first time through is a lead by Joe, then we sing, Joe, sing, Joe, sing, sing, end. Whenever Joe did his lead, I went and sat down every time. I thought I could do it, the twice singing. So I got through the first of the last two “sings”, and started feeling sick again. I kept going, but thoughts crossed my mind like “should I stop?” “can the girls keep going if I sit?”

I was dizzy…I felt like I was spinning around, but I kept singing. Things became a little surreal, the way things are when your mind disconnects from your body. Your body does one thing, but your mind is startlingly clear and lucid. I could hear myself, and I was on key, but my body felt like I was slurring the words.

Then everything went black.

It was like I had a short dream of the world sideways, about two seconds, then everything went black.

They say I fell down on my face, groaned, and rolled over. I remember impact, and thinking about how my bass was faring, then black again until I was on my back. Dad was bending over me, and I told him “It was like I was dreaming.”

It’s still a little hazy…I remember someone taking the bass off–they said it was Mom–and I was wondering what its condition was. Dad asked how I was, I think, then pulled me up and helped me into the house. He took me into his room, which has the window air conditioning (the only in the house), and told me to sit on his bed. I did, and he sat next to me, looking real worried and asking me about things. I told him what it was like. He felt me, and said I didn’t feel like I’d had heatstroke.

After a minute Mom came, and he told Mom to stay with me while he went out and supervised the packing up of the equipment. Mom said my lips were really pale (they usually are, but they were paler).

After a long time, I left their room and came to sit at Darren. My head still felt strange, but I was ok.

So I was sitting at Darren, and Ben and Joe come in the doorway. “It was funny when you fell because you were on key [that was nice!] singing along and all of a sudden you just fell over!”

At dinner (fried egg sandwiches), all the little kids told me how scary it was. Jay’s was the funniest…he made his eyes big and round and said, “Da music was playing ‘bing dun dee BANG!’ you fell over! And it was scawy! [scary]”

So. Don’t worry…I don’t need any sympathy…I’m just fine now.