Bring it on, Middle School!

Nate is growing up. In just a few months he will turn eleven. I can clearly remember the day that I finally brought him home from the hospital and walked into our little apartment and was overcome with joyful tears of relief....knowing that we had finally created a "perfect" family. It was an overwhelming feeling of love and extreme accomplishment and I will never be able to adequately put that moment into words.

Nate has recently been talking a lot about middle school. Last week he had a visit from his soon-to- be band teacher. In the past year, Nate has wanted to play saxophone (ew!), clarinet, drums (ew again!), and trumpet. We were very happy with the last choice since we had a free one just sitting in the closet! Anyway, the band teacher decided that Nate's mouth was "too big" for a trumpet and chose the trombone for him instead. Nate, in his cool and calm style just rolled with this new unexpected path. He is now quite happy with the manly choice of instruments and looks forward to band next year. I, on the other hand, have started collecting monetary donations for this "manly" yet very expensive (!!) instrument.

His class took a trip over to the "new middle school" today. This is a great relief to me because Nate is a worrier when it comes to change. Remember the food trying thing? Anyway, I was hoping that the visit would calm his imagination down so that he won't get sick the night before school starts. I can't recall a year that we haven't been up half the night going through "anxiety pains". Trying to be sensitive to this anxiety thing, I didn't press him for information but I did get small comments like: "My new school is HUGE" and then he quickly and bravely added, "but it will be o.k. because our lockers are going to be "magically" placed next to our first period teacher". (I guess Dumbledore will be working his magic this summer.) He said that he is very worried about getting lost but I quickly reminded him that just 3 years ago he had a whole new house to get used to with lots of new rooms and bathrooms and he managed to find his way around in just a few minutes! He just smiled, shook his head at me (like I was stupid), and walked away. Why has he started thinking that I am stupid? I'm not sure if I am going to do well being a middle school mom. Maybe I need lessons. But, I have this perfectly precious picture to keep me persevering FOREVER: (make sure you read the words on the the shirt!)

--oh yes... she does!

Chicago and Back in 14 hours

Wowser! Yesterday was really fun but I am tired because we didn't get back until early Sunday morning! We started out our adventure at 10:15 and needed to catch the 12:20 train to Chicago from Michigan City. I had never been on the South Shore Line so I was not familiar with the station or the surroundings so it took us a few extra minutes than the 1 1/2 hour allotted time! In fact, it took several conversations with complete strangers in order to find the "station". Several of my work colleagues had told me that "this was the way to go" because there were several trains running daily during the weekends and the Kalamazoo line only has 3 the entire day. With this new found knowledge in mind, I was fully expecting to see a grand station because my friends NEVER let me down! Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of this but here is what it looked like:


Okay, this is what I thought the station should look like in my mind! I
had to settle for the next picture in reality!

Yup, the one on the LEFT side of the picture is what we waited in!

Anyway, we boarded the train and set off for the "Windy City". It was fabulous fun. We had a one hour train ride ahead of us and quickly passed the time with Jotto (a word game) and constant conversation (that was quite hilarious at times).

We arrived with just a little less than an hour until the show started. I quickly was able to locate Cheryl via a cell phone and pick up our tickets! We had excellent seats about 6 rows back in the balcony. I couldn't take any pictures because they are forbidden in the auditorium.
The theatre itself was very ornate. Here's the lobby:


The show was so super-good. It was nice to be able to understand everything since the British accent was not present this time! I guess my favorite part was being able to just be there....sitting between two of my closest friends and breathing in the sights and sounds of a great memory in the making!

After the show, we bummed around the streets or Chicago, ate some dinner, missed the 6:00 train (oops) and walked all over the place after dinner. I liked just being able to relax and not have a purpose for a few hours!

So, the whole whirlwind of a Saturday was really wicked! Okay, I am now officially going to put that word away for a while now....right after I order a "Wicked" T shirt online!

It will be wicked fun!

Today I talked to Cheryl on the phone. She is a friend that I classify as a "lifer". She has been my friend since I was old enough to remember her, which dates back to 1975. We were penpals when I was finishing high school and she was going to Taylor. She lives on the east side of the state, teaches high school choir and although we don't see each other much, it never takes long to reconnect and pick up our friendship wherever we left off. Tomorrow she takes a bunch of choir kids to Chicago for a weekend of fun and entertainment.

I live about 2.5 hours from Chicago so when she offered free tickets to "Wicked" because she had a few people pay and then not be able to go, I jumped at the idea. I have seen the musical in London this past summer and absolutely loved it so I can't wait to go see it again and maybe even understand all of it because there won't be any thick English accents to navigate!

When I lived in Massachusetts, I quickly learned that the word "wicked" could be used in place of the word very. People would often say things like, "I am wicked hungry" or "I've got a wicked bad headache" or some even go to the extreme to just say "Wicked" when they think something is really awesome. So, this weekend I am wicked excited about "Wicked" because it will be wicked awesome!

Top 10 reasons to love teaching high schoolers

10. They tell you when your clothes don't match.

9. They then tell their friends about your clothes not matching.

8. They always have an opinion about EVERYTHING.

7. They can take multiple part directions and complete all of the steps and they don't even need a bulleted list.

6. They are extremely proficient at "acting with a purpose". Grown ups call this lying.

5. They can "text" anyone at anytime with lightening bolt speed and accuracy. And they can do all this while hiding their phone from me.

4. They can push fashion to the extreme and everyone calls it "cool" and "hip". To me, a lot of it just looks silly.

3. They can be ready to learn one minute and ready to goof around the next. BTW, this makes class really fun for the teacher!

2. They love to listen to my personal stories. I always wonder why.

And the number one reason why to like high schoolers is:
(drum roll please)


1. They are extremely motivated by doughnuts.



It may be time to surprise them with a treat tomorrow!

Maddie and her first Email

Maddie has been bugging me for several weeks to get her "own" email account. Every time the subject would come up, I would make up some ridiculous excuse for not having time to create one because as we all well know, "it takes several hours to do this successfully".

After a few weeks of this, she called my bluff. Obviously she had been talking to her computer savvy friends and they told her it really wasn't that hard to do and "would only take your Mom a few seconds". So I gave in and created an account for her a few days ago so that she could be the dreamy penpal that she has always wanted to be. Her first "victim" was Grandma Kay because as she put it, "Grandma's have lots of time to write back". And when Madison wants penpals, she will always pick the one that she feels will not ever let her down. With Madison and Grandma Kay's permission, I present my eight year old's first email that she learned how to compose and send and address on her own!

Dear Gramma,

How are you? This is my first email I have ever written, so here goes nothing!

OK, so yesterday we (Nate, Britt, Nayt, Mom, and I) went to see a musical called Hello Dolly! at Mom's highschool. I'm writing this because it took place back some time ago and there were a lot of pretty dresses. And it was a great show. Make sure you read this because its not like the movie. It's all about a young women called Dolly Livi. She does most everything but her main purpose is dating. Her husband died so she is living alone. But soon she goes to Yonkers to help a rich young man to propose to a young widow. (Miss.Mallo) The young man is selfish and self centerd. But Dolly doesn't think so. Meanwhile the young man's employes (Corneilius and Barnabe) go to NY for a vacation and dolly does too. Miss Mollo, who works at NY, falls in love with Corneilius and her assistant Minne falls in love with Barnabe. So Dolly,(who likes the young man) introduces him to Earnesta Money. (HA,HA!) Who ovyously sounds(EARN US SOME MONEY!) quite nice to him. So Dolly tells him to get a table for two at the huming garden restraunt. OK, lets go back when Dollies old husband was alive. At that exact restraunt, she danced with him in dance competishions and always won. So of course they did a GIGANTIC most wonderful number in the show and Dolly has a GREAT voice which made it better all the more. The number was called Hello Dolly! That is why it is called that.So Miss. Money isn't all that great though. By the way, Miss. Molloi is there and you know who else. Well, I won't tell much but it didn't go to well and all got sent to court.

By now the young man knows after dancing with Dolly that she loves him. But he gets sent to jail. Dolly comes back and I remember their conversation completely: "Dolly,what do you want?""Well theres only one thing left to do." "Dolly Livi, if its for me to ask you to marry me, I won't do it.""Why I was not going to say that. I was going to say good bye.".......... Musical number............ About one week later at the young man's store and he's back from jail. He relizes how much he loves Dolly and she comes back. And they marry bla bla bla.So that's it. Hope it's warm in your town. Please write back.

Lots of love,

Maddie

And that is why I am glad I have my daughter. She never ceases to amaze me. And she always makes me laugh!

My blogging "friend" Sarah Marie showed me how to do this signature awesomeness on her blog. I love easy to follow step by step directions! I have been stalking her blog for over a year and never left a comment. In fact I have never even met her. Maybe it is time. A thank you is probably in order. I like her blog--it is sometimes really funny! Anyway, I like the signature thingy.

He Watches Over Israel and Me too!

My Elijah experience is over. The spotlight has dimmed and I am happy. In fact, I am peaceful about things in general. And I have not thought about any of the songs since yesterday.
Even after cutting out 30 pages the oratorio lasted 2.5 hours. I am sure the audience was bored at times. In fact, I kept thinking of things that the audience might have been thinking. Let me take time to share my list:

1. Will that soprano soloist ever take a breath?

2. Did that chorus number sound a bit off to you?....oh wait, I think they are back on track. BTW, this could have been their thought about 5 times at different points.

3. Hey, Neighbor in the audience, are we supposed to know who "Baal" is?

4. "He that shall endure to the end". Hmmm, what an interesting name for a movement....Maybe the audience should be singing this to the chorus since we have sat here for 2 hours and 10 minutes so far. These pews are hard.

5. Cool, check out that YOUTH soloist....she looks as old as me! I guess YOUTH meant something different back in those days. Interesting.

Anyway, I only got lost once because I was daydreaming about what I might cook for dinner when I got home. I think it was quite noticeable since I was rapidly flipping pages and straining to see my neighbor's page number.

The Soprano/Alto duet went quite well. I would say that was my personal highlight of the night! The YOUTH soloist part didn't go so perfectly. I missed the high A, tried to replace it with an F# and ended up settling for a cracked D#. It wasn't too pretty but the show still went on and at least the D# was in the chord!

So Goodnight Elijah. Forever. Amen.

Elijah

It has been quite a week. Sorry, audience of three, that I have let you down and have not done any new posting. Between end of the semester grading, a major production in the auditorium, and the birth of Elijah, I am pooped. Okay.....I didn't actually give birth to Elijah.....but it was a good eye catcher wasn't it?
Elijah is actually the oratorio that I am singing in tomorrow at 3p.m. I decided that since I wasn't busy enough this semester, I needed to branch out and sing in a community group. You know, kind of get my feet wet before I direct one next fall. WHAT WAS I THINKING????

I told my friend Marsha that I would sing with her and it would be fun. Well it has not been fun....at all. I forgot that I don't really like this oratorio and it is high....like REALLY high for the entire 180 pages. I am a mezzo by classification and so I was in quite a predicament when I looked at the score....if I sang alto my voice wouldn't last and if I sang soprano my voice wouldn't last. I looked around at the choir my first night of rehearsal and wondered, "How do these people (mostly gray heads at that!) keep singing page after page?" The answer became very apparent about 35 minutes into the rehearsal.....they really don't. They sing with bad technique and they go more flat with every page turn. So I decided after hearing them that I would just sing soprano....because it obviously didn't need to be perfect or in tune for more than 35 minutes. And I knew I could achieve that.

After my first rehearsal (which BTW I could only attend 4 rehearsals), I was asked by the director to "consider singing the soprano solos for us". It took a week of earnest prayer, but my answer was " absolutely no way" after every single moment with God. I tried to be able to say yes but I knew it wasn't going to be possible. So the director, a few weeks later, asked me to "please sing the "children's part" because it is small and really easy". For the next 2 weeks I searched through my score to find the "children's part" and could not. Goodness, it must be so easy that Mendelsohn forgot to write it! Finally during one rehearsal the director looked at me and said, "Heidi, here's your part" (it was 'YOUTH' BTW not children) and proceeded to tell me to sing it right then. So tell me, fellow musicians, how hard could a YOUTH part be to sightread? No problem.....right?

For those of you who use powerpoint, this would be a wonderful time to insert that sound effect that sounds like a car screeching and then crashing into lots of metal.

Let me just set all three of you readers straight. Mendelsohn's YOUTH must have been a child prodigy that was specifically bred to sing this stuff! I have never seen a vocal part that was so horribly high (F#'s and then a sustained high A!!) and have such ridiculous text to try to sing at the same time. Just try singing the word "iron" from an A to an F# and see how it works! OH, and make sure you are 38 years old, not practicing regularly, and classified as a mezzo....before you try it! So, just to recap this long post I am so far: (1) singing a part that is far too high, (2) not liking this oratorio, and (3) am sitting in a section that is falling flatter by the measure and not seeming to notice.

Now comes the highlight of the Elijah Chronicle! A few days ago I was at church and learned the tragic news that Marsha had, just a few days ago, lost her mom in Florida and then her brother was in a tragic motorcycle accident in California and also died. I was absolutely shocked and saddened beyond words. Marsha was singing the "famous" soprano/alto duet in Elijah and would not be there! The director happened to be at the church and we heard this news together and said, "Well Heidi, I need you to sing Marsha's part because I know that if anyone can pull it off you can with this short notice". What am I supposed to say to him? If I say no, I don't support Marsha, or God, or the director, or Mendelsohn.....so I said "Ok, no problem."
That was Thursday night. It is now Saturday night for the record.

I finally remembered to practice today (insert another car crash sound effect here). I haven't "practiced" for anything in several years. After about 30 minutes, I was absolutely positively exhausted. I needed to nap for ten minutes on the floor just to recover! I can do the duet but it won't be anything "special". I can sing the terribly high and out-of-my-range YOUTH solo but it won't be pretty. I have tried to make this a positive experience but it just isn't working.

And to top it all off....I tried on my long black skirt tonight. It is not flattering at all. In fact, some people might call it "grossly tight". Come to think of it, most people would call it that. After unzipping the zipper halfway down in order to be able to breathe, I figured that I could probably manage for a few hours. Then it occurred to me that "everyone" would probably be able to "see" my zipper malfunction through the white shirt that I needed to wear. I should probably put that white shirt on for myself and see how things looked. So I went to get my long sleeve white shirt only to discover that it was not in the closet, or the dirty clothes pile, or the clean clothes pile or the sewing room closet, or anywhere. Tragic thoughts and panic were starting to build. I was not only going to sound bad, I was going to look bad too! It was now 8:50p.m. I could not make it to the mall before it closed! I finally found an old one in a box labeled, "Donate". There was no way that I would be able to wear that "model" out in public.....it needed to stay in the box from which it came. It seemed to be having the "not flattering" problem as well. So tomorrow between after church and the 2:00 roll call for the concert, I need to go buy a new white shirt. And it needs to be long sleeve (good luck with that one right now in the stores). And the sleeves need to fit a midget.

And finally, I almost forgot to tell you, the other four soloist singers are professional opera singers and then there is me.....lovely.

Shift of Power

Tomorrow is my last day teaching my college students. I decided to resign at the end of this semester so that I can devote a little bit more time next year to things that I have had to avoid. Like Housework. And Cooking. And seeing my kids. When I announced my decision a few weeks back to my husband his response was simple yet profound: "Do you think that this means that the Maid and the Cook might come back now?"

Although I am not a maid or a cook by profession, I do find both of these tasks extremely rewarding and relaxing at times. And in that one sentence, I realized that I have the right man by my side. He has been the Cook and the Maid for 2 years now and needs a break! So obviously he is happy about the shift of power next year!

And I am happy to be able to cook and clean again! Especially cook.....

Now that Nate has started eating "real food", I can successfully cook 1 meal for the four of us instead of multiple meals at one setting. I realize that some of you are saying, "Well, if you just make him eat what is there and not baby him, you wouldn't have this problem".
For the record, let me offer a small explanation. Nate is our "easy" child. He is the one in the family that is happy to do whatever, whenever, and however. He doesn't fuss or make a big deal out of things. I joke around that he is probably too busy watching his sister be the "drama queen" and forgets that he can have an opinion too! But, when it comes to food....he is extremely bullheaded, stubborn, and opinionated and a "drama king". Before he could speak I remember him pushing his food away when it didn't suit his delicate palette. He never would try things except on his terms. He still to this day is very hesitant to try things. I do remember one night when we were on vacation and he was about four years old, he reached over to his father's salad and ate a tomato, onion, crouton, piece of lettuce, and salad dressing all in different bites. No one asked him to do it and he never did it again. But he found out that salad was not his thing! So, there you have it. He still is picky but I look back in the last year and he has increased his menu to about 30 food items. That is great since 2 years ago he only was eating Fruit, Peanut butter, chicken nuggets, and Macaroni and Cheese. Oh, and don't forget the yogurt. So I figure we are doing great!
So yes! I am happy about the job change. And I can't wait to be done teaching college...for now.

Some of my Favorite Memories of Washington