The big concert

This was one nervous 12 year old last night. Grumpy! But, don't she look terrific? (okay, don't know where the turn-the-right-foot-that-way came from, but she's doing it in every picture.)



This is after she got really irritated at me and walked away, leaving me behind. On the drive up, we knew she was nervous and could have engaged in that, but instead, Rob put on her kind of music and he and I talked. About the most we said to her was to remind her that she was nervous and not to let that get away from her. (really, i was wondering if they'd miss her if i killed her and dropped her body off a bridge.)


I did have pictures of her with us, but got a little irritated this morning when I realized that in the pic with Rob, she looks all happy and in the pic with me, she looks like she's having a particularly difficult bowel irritation. So, decided not to post either one. Nah!

Here are the three choirs that performed. Each choir was open to only the top 10% of the student population of the school, based on grades and choir participation. And, all the schools in the district participated.

The Elementary School choir.


The middle school choir


And, the high school choir.


Since this is Way Back Wednesday and since I've already told my own choir story in a previous Weds post, all I could think of was a story about my days in church choir.

I was in church choir for several years, probably from when I was about Sydney's age until I was a senior in high school and it wasn't cool anymore. I sang tenor. There were only a few tenors and some of my favorite choir memories were of Sunday nights, when the congregation was smaller, the choir loft was less full, and the music was usually the old time gospel that I'd grown up singing.

There was another tenor, whose face I can still see, all these years later, but who's name I cannot recall. I was in my teens and he was probably in his 50's at the time. And, the man could not carry a tune in a bucket. It was terrible. But, he never knew it and he sang with all the gusto that only a committed believer can muster. Over the years, we stood next to one another and at one point, he stood behind me, so I always had a good earful of his singing. But, he was a much nicer man than he was a good singer. We were as close as choir members of such different ages should be, exchanging pleasantries and greetings and singing our hallelujahs.

He is not the only person I knew as a child that couldn't carry a tune, so I guess I was more empathetic than most people probably were. And, while the name is gone, the face and the devotion he showed to God through his singing are still part of my memories of childhood.

I hope things went well for him as life went on.

Have a great Way Back Wednesday. Take care, and get back to your quilting. What? You think someone else is gonna do it for you? Maybe some little elves or fairies? Get back to work. You're supposed to be enjoying yourself enough for both of us, cuz heaven knows I'm stuck at the office and not enjoying myself much at all.

Lane