"U da Mom!" . . . Eating and Practicing

Yes, these are bunnies riding unicorns. . . oh to be eight again. 

Yes, you guessed it, Bill is out of town. 

It's Thursday night and I have seen nineteen returning students this week.  Congratulations parents!  Everyone stayed in the boat.  I did not have to reintroduce any child to the black keys and the white keys! I'm pleasantly surprised. I worried that there would be fallout from my sabbatical this summer but almost everyone kept going!  Kudos to Aidan and Sami for their excellent practice partner coaching!  I was tickled to see some of their notes and suggestions in the kids' music.

Next week? Five new puppies--including four four-year-olds. We finish up parent orientation tomorrow. It's the first generation of kids who are younger than my own. That feels different. Really different. I feel this overwhelming sense of confidence and experience and affection toward these families. I have BEEN THERE. . . and I'm here to tell you, your child is not going to come up with anything I haven't seen. . .and they are going to play the piano really, really well.

I have to reflect on some faith based irony. For the past 25 years I've always been very prayerful about the studio roster.  I've always felt that children come and go according to their needs and my needs.  We all have a purpose in each others' lives. Yes, there have been a few kicks in the stomach, some tearful farewells, and even an occasion sigh of relief when the Dear John email hits in inbox.  (It's very rare these days to conjure up the courage to quit in person. . .) But for the most part, things work themselves out with very little influence from me. I never recruit students, I never turn away a family who observes and does orientation, and I never fire anyone for not practicing. Period. Every child can.

But, what I really wanted was some new little kids to start. You can imagine my delight that somehow in July and August the phone started ringing and four Eagan families stepped up to the plate. Three of them coincidentally go to the same preschool. My grandma would call that a God thing.

It's going to be a great little group. All the other studio kids think they moved up a group. I'm not sure they realize that everyone pretty much moved up a group. . . so. . . it's going to feel about the same. I'm not saying the high school group is going to feel the same. There's still a hole in my heart for all the ones who went before.

In closing--this is how a day in my life goes: wake at 6:00 and practice with Calvin. Feed the children and get them to school. Exercise. Teach lessons. Pick up the children and feed them snack. Teach lessons. Feed the children dinner. Practice with Mary. Feed the children a bedtime snack. Get the children to bed. Practice with Sara. . . feed Sara a bedtime snack. . . put Sara to bed. Doctor Suzuki said to only practice on the days you eat. Sometimes it feels like that is all we do. Practice and eat. Of course that's not true, we squeeze in eye doctor appointments and piano teacher meetings and roof repairs and birthday parties.

The things that go to make up a life. A very good life. As Calvin proclaimed on a recent camping trip when I saved his disassembled walkie talkies from a rain storm, "U da Mom!"  Wow. Just hearing those words made it all worthwhile. I'm the mom, even in middle school lingo. Sigh.

Eating and practicing. Eating and practicing. Eating and practicing.

Here's to all the parents helping their kids eat and practice and everything else in between.

We da parents!!!! (I think that's a compliment. . . at least I'm pretty sure it is. . . isn't it?)