Bigger Than Blue Eye Shadow and Braces

As you might have already realized I didn't do a Random Dozen yesterday.  I have a very good reason and it may or may not have anything to do with my suddenly overloaded week.  I am not complaining at all.  I have had an enjoyable and fulfilling week, just a little overloaded.

Rich and I are looking for a place to live.  We are getting discouraged about not finding anything and have some feelings of...frustration.  I have to remind him me that only two short years ago we were saying good bye to each other as he was moving back to Iowa and I really thought I might not ever see him again.  I need to remind him me that we should be thankful that we are having this problem of trying to find a place to start our new life together.  We are lucky that our paths in life continue to cross and that this time our paths are the same...so sappy story short we have been busy looking at overpriced places whos idea of a backyard is a small piece of concrete out back.   We even looked at a place that we would only be able to fit one of our three couches...and let me tell you I am in trouble when I judge a living room based on whether or not our whole family can watch Chuck at once without having to sit on each others laps.  I have my standards.

I also had my Middle School choral concert on Tuesday night.  My Sixth Grade Chorus performed and my Middle School Chorus performed. 

Now my memories of Middle School include a lot of issues with my braces, the fact that my stringy straight hair wouldn't feather even with an ozone depleating amount of Aqua Net, and that the cute football player Mike Martens didn't even know I existed dispite my feeble attempts to sit next to him in study hall and bat my blue eye shadowed eyes at him. 

Let me tell you these Middle Schoolers have such a harder deal.  Not only do they have the same preteen agnst that we all had they are also constantly worried about grades and achievements, things that I never remembered worrying about.  So I am very honored that these kids get up on stage and sing their hearts out for me.  Something that takes a lot of guts and hard work.  Hard work that doesn't involve flash cards and tutors.  Hard work that uses that other part of the brain and that shows them that being part of a team doesn't always involve winners and losers.  This kind of hard work is a release for them and I am always in awe of all they can accomplish.

My Middle School Chorus especially take the gutsy cake.  They amaze me.   

If I can direct your eyes away from the fact that yes once again my posterior is the center of attention long enough to notice a couple of things.  1) There are only 6 students in this choir.  2)  There is only 1 boy in this choir and 3) They are on stage about to sing in front of a full house and they are smiling.

Again, I will ask you to go back...way back...to those preteen years.  Those years where we tried so hard to NOT draw attention to ourselves, to blend in, to fit in, to hide amoungst the crowd until we figured out who we were and what we wanted.  These kids fight all those instincts and stand on stage and sing.  I am constantly impressed and oh so proud. 

They are the reason I do what I do...I love them dearly.

More Later

-A Ro