Angels of Music

There is nothing like a second-grade spring concert to make parents go 'awwwwwww'.

Tonight was Abby's concert. Three classrooms full of 7- and 8-year-olds, some with solos, some on instruments, all in the chorus. Singing songs with names like "Best Friends" and "Chooka Chooka". Kids whose voices are staying closer to the actual tune than in past years, and who've finally got some rhythm.

We had a pretty full turnout. Seventy-odd performers, their families, teachers and administrators. Abby's dad drove down from his place - an hour away - for a twenty-minute production in an overcrowded gymnasium. And he brought Abby flowers... the brightest daisies and mums he could find. She gasped. "My first real bouquet!" One of Abby's friends, whom I have known for more than five years (since before they were three) said to me in his best grownup voice, "Hello, Mrs Abby's Mom. It's nice to see you again".

Lizzy misbehaved, although she was no worse than any other younger sibling her age in the audience. But in the spirit of Following Through, not to mention Consistency and Listening to Your Parents, Laston took her to the car and Had a Talk about proper behavior. We had no sooner opened the car door than she apologized to Abby for "being loud in yoh concuht". It'll have to be repeated ad nauseum because she is three. But maybe it made an impression.

And just to finish off the friendly, all-parents-together mood of the night, I brought in the flowers to put them in a vase, while the kids and Laston went down the road to listen to the frogs sing their springtime chorus.

Pictures are a bit blurry, but cute: