Mary's Lovely Weekend

The Birthday Recital Girl

Guests of Honor

My Favorite Part

Happy birthday Mary!   I'm not going to tell the story of how seven years ago we waited for Maggie to show up to babysit Calvin--how Bill told her firmly that we needed to go--while she tried to give me advice on labor and delivery--how he drove 90 miles an hour in the bumpy Ford Explorer to the hospital--how they logged us into the ER at 5:52 a.m. and the tech took one look at me and said get her out of here and made Bill run ahead to push the elevator button (it sometimes takes up to 38 seconds for the elevator to come) while he got the gurney.  Apparently the tech was not keen on delivering a baby in the hallway.  She was born at 5:56 into the loving and capable hands of the OB nurse and Bill.   That is--Bill was loving and the nurse was capable.  From the video of the first moments of Mary's life,  you can tell that the whole experience was much harder on Bill than it was on me or Mary--he is hyperventilating into the camera mic. . . poor Bill.  Too bad he didn't have the Challenger back then, we might have made better time. 

All is well that ends well.  

This weekend, all ended well.  Very well.  Mary had her friends' party Friday afternoon.  She woke up crying with a tummy ache at 11:30 Thursday night.  She made herself all the worse crying that she didn't want to miss Run 4 Deerwood and her birthday party on Friday.  Some of you have heard Mary cry. She knows how to cry. I sat on the floor in the bathroom with her and the throw up bucket and prayed.  The poor girl didn't deserve to be sick on this day.  Eventually she fell asleep (without throwing up).  I just kept thinking--no temp--no throw up--she could still participate. . . and she woke up feeling okay.  Calvin commented it was a good thing she didn't throw up, because he needed that bucket for the scavenger hunt at the party.  Among other reasons. . . .  

Run 4 Deerwood is very cool.  The kids collect money for a jog-a-thon and all the money goes to the school.  The fire department and police were there and a big jamming stereo pumping tunes for the kids to run to.  (Another way in which music adds to our life) Much excitement and hoopla.  Congrats Deerwood!   I hope you met your goal!

Mary's recital on Saturday was lovely.  Amazing.  She played so many echos and had gentle endings and had awesome balance on the Ecossaise, Short Story and The Happy Farmer.  It was like she remembered everything I ever taught her.  Mysterious almost.  Peculiar.  Next life for me: child psychologist.   Maybe it was because Mary was wearing Lena's dress. They share in the sisterhood of girls with older brothers with perfect pitch to whom things come easily.  I'm joking about the dress.  She played so beautifully because deep down she was well-prepared.  I don't know how to account for the last few days, except that perhaps there is a conspiracy against parents, by their children to freak them out, by really playing poorly in the days leading up to a recital.  

Seriously, this quandary comes under the heading of review management, that tricky science of keeping kids engaged in adding the details after they have been playing the piece for a while.  A core principle of the Suzuki Method and Ability Development is that we use review for growth.  We review to add beauty and polish and skills.  I'm think I'm pretty good at this, but obviously not perfect.  Each child is so unique. There is an art to planning these graduations.  It is extremely unlikely for the student to be able to have peak performance of each piece on one given day.  Yet, I maintain that these graduations are valuable and a tremendous growth experience.   Like my anonymous commenter from the last blog entry pointed out--patience comes in managing our expectations.  

When it is all done, you don't know whether to hug the kid or kick them in the caboose.  Of course I chose the hug.  

Thank you to Mary's Aunt Susan and Savannah, to Auntie Ann and Uncle Dave, Grandma and Grandpa and Grandmommy, Mary Lynn and Maggie,  for coming to Mary's recital and family party.  She loves you all!