Finally sang the aria that's been haunting me for a year

I've been circling this one phrase for months — too scared to actually commit to it, the way you avoid a letter you need to send. This morning, in an empty practice room with the light coming in at that awful early angle, I just... let it happen. The high notes weren't perfect. But there was a moment around the middle phrase where everything opened up and I felt the ceiling disappear. That's the thing I chase. Not the applause — the disappearing ceiling.