Remember my poor beautiful snapped violin bow? Today is the day I fetch it home from the hospital. The good news is that the luthier told me, with a smile in his voice, "I think you'll be very pleased." The I'm-not-sure-what's-going-on news is that I haven't gotten final word on whether or not the insurance company will pay for it.

Despite my continuing insurance anxiety, I'm all a-flutter about seeing my bow again. In my six weeks without it, I've played four gigs using my high school backup bow; and yesterday, at the cafe, I was invisibly gnashing my teeth about the cheap bow's sluggish reactions and embarrassing tendency to squeak. I cannot wait to hold the real one in my hand again.

The Nurnberger family of bow makers, 1905 and 1915