So after several hours of hairy cary and trying everything I could possibly think of, I have resigned this piece to the graveyard of oblivion and must start anew.
I have never lost a piece due to computer error in the 13 years of using Finale. It saddens me like nothing else. So, here is to learning your lessons the hard way!! Today, I go out and buy an external hard drive to back everything up. (I am sure, it will be every hour on the hour for quite some time.)
This very stressful experience got me thinking about fresh starts. I have scrapped pieces before and started anew (even in the final stages of them) and in the end, sure it is twice as much work, but it always is for the better. Maybe this is fate's way of telling me that this piece wasn't as good as I thought it was.
I was able to make the audio file of the piece, so, I will be flexing my feeble transcription skills over the next few weeks trying desperately to piece together the lost piece.
So, lessoned learned, back everything up a hundred times over!!!!
I'm sure glad I have a comfy office chair.