I just wanted to thank you all for your comments last Friday. You have no idea how much it helps to not only have a place to vent, but also a place to receive support from friends. You guys are a great coping mechanism - I read some comments before I got out of the car to head to the meeting and the rest afterwards when I needed to recover. And it helped so much! I'm sure I sound totally crazy for saying this, but I really did get some much needed strength from reading them so THANK YOU again from the bottom of my heart!
Now, if y'all could only invent the cure for the common cold, I wouldn't have been sick for the last 5 days (and counting). That definitely WAS a sore throat coming on...just in time to make me totally miserable during Friday's critical event (as if the event itself wasn't enough to do that).
The good news is that I did survive. Going through it sucked, but at least it's over now and the issue has been tabled until June so I get a reprieve (or another period during which to stress out as June gets closer - depending on how you look at it).
If nothing else, I'm hoping that now that the pressure is off, I can get back to things I love like blogging regularly ('cuz yeah, I know, it's sucked around here lately and I do appreciate everyone's restraint in not pointing that out more often LOL) and jewelry making. I have not made ANYTHING since, like, November or something. I have, however, repeatedly stood in front of my bead collection and WANTED to make something, but haven't been able to summon up the creative energy to actually DO it.
Totally lame.
Anyway, I hope that feeling will wear off. Maybe after close to 13 years of bead and jewelry obsession, the brain just really needed an extended break. I hope it ends soon, though.
In other news...
While I was busy stressing out and getting sick, the kid passed his latest Tae Kwon Do test and has advanced to Senior Blue Belt. He broke a two-board stack with a back hook kick to do it which is pretty darned impressive.
Also, he's decided he wants to learn to play the drums.
Oi.
However, being that he's only eight, before I go lay out money for drums (and start saving up for my future hearing aids), we're going to do a li'l test run. He's going to have an introductory lesson with a friend of mine this weekend to see if he's really excited enough to commit to any kind of practice schedule.
I want him to have a different experience than what I had as a kid. I was about his age when I started having piano and organ lessons and I was required to practice several hours a week including spending most of my Saturday in the church practicing the hymns for Sunday's service. Yep, at eight years old, I was the church organist.
And I HATED it.
Not the music so much, but the enforced practice when all my friends were out playing and enjoying their Saturdays. So, when I got to junior high, I switched over to the flute for a while and played that until I was about 14 or 15 and then I quit completely.
I can still read music but I can't play anything except a C-scale with my right hand on the piano.
Now, if the practice schedule had been less stringent, would things have turned out differently? I dunno. It's possible that I had the skill but just not the drive. However, I would've liked the opportunity to find out. I suspect that if I'd been allowed a more relaxed introduction to the instruments and playing then maybe I would have developed the drive and interest on my own so that I would have also developed the commitment to a more rigorous practice schedule.
Also...dude, playing the church organ at 8 years old? SO TOTALLY NOT COOL. I mean I might as well have walked around with a giant "I am a loser so feel free to torture me" sign on my back. At least with drums...Ryan won't have THAT problem. Drummers are cool.
So, I'll be interested to see what happens on Sunday. Will Ryan bang around for a few minutes and then be "over it"? Or will a seed be planted...
KJ
5 comments:
I'm glad you're doing better!
I've got my 8-year old in guitar lessons, and I'm praying he sticks it out through the chords stage. He's irritated that he couldn't just pick up the guitar and immediately play cool songs.
So glad to hear you've "turned the corner"! I, for one, have missed you terribly, and all your stories! Glad you're back.
I tried drums in 7th grade- I had to practice drum rolls on a plastic pad, so maybe it won't be tooooo noisy.
Have you been to church lately - they have drums at the "contemporary" services (an entire rock band), so maybe Ryan can follow in his Mom's footsteps!! ;-)
Oh Yeah you made it through! Way to go on the Tae quan do (I can not spell it) Oi on the drums but I did get my 5 year old one of the electronic ones for Christmas and guess what it has headphones!
Still thinking good thoughts for you :-) So know how you feel about how you were raised vs. what you want to do as a parent. My parents taxed my first paycheck so much it left me with $5. I love them to the ends of the earth but come on! Definitely rent the drums if you can - Emma switched from cello to saxophone and since we were renting it was a guilt-free switch!
I miss you, Miss Kelly! I hope that you are faring well, that your hearing is still intact, that the waves haven't washed you into the sea and that you are slowing easing yourself back to your bead table.
My son plays the saxophone and this year started jazz band and not only the alto but the tenor sax as well. But he rarely if ever brings it home to practice.
I played the clarinet. Not because I wanted to. The band director told me they had enough flutes. And then I suggested saxophone and she (yes, SHE) told me that the saxophone was for BOYS! So I had to play the clarinet. You can imagine how well that went over. My sister took Suzuki flute for a summer, where you only listen to master's music like Brahms. I could hear it through my walls at night. One day I picked up the flute and even never having played a note could play it perfectly. So I went into the band director and told her I wanted to play for first chair. I remember she let me but went back to her papers. When I started playing - from memory - she looked up and stumbled across the room to reach me. She made me first chair in both flute and clarinet. I gave it a week and then quit. But after seeing how fun the band was at UW Madison I wish that I had stuck with it! I think my daughter is thinking about clarient, but also dances and sings. Not sure what it will be...
Thanks for the memory, Kelly!
Take.Good.Care.
Enjoy the day!
Erin
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