fun in threes, sometimes fours
the boy
This evening the Boy's youth orchestra had a concert at the Peace Center -- the premier performance space in Greenville. It's where we saw Fiddler on the Roof, Mahler's Symphony No. 2, and The Sound of Music, among other shows. Yo Yo Ma is playing there in a month.
During the second piece, E had a solo: "a mournful trombone" according to the program notes.
K teared up to hear what he's been working on for weeks in its full context. I might have experienced a touch of dampness as well.
After a day of rain yesterday -- it absolutely poured for most of the day, which is why I didn't go for a walk during the Boy's practice -- we were thrilled with the lovely light streaming into our kitchen this morning. The sky was a rich blue, which meant we had to get outside.
I spent the morning grading -- remember that? I don't do that much grading at home these days because I no longer teach a heavily academic subject.
I still have a bit, though: the kids keep a daily journal as their warm-up in class, and I use that as a major assignment grade. As such, I take the time to read what they've written. For example, we've had a change in our school's morning routine, and I asked the kids what they thought of it. With 150 students, though, it takes a long time to work through all those journals.
After lunch, we headed to our favorite park for a walk. We thought about going to a local state park and going for a longer walk, but in the end, we elected for the closer park and shorter walk.
It was a little like old times today: the Girl had a volleyball tournament; the Boy had a soccer game. L is playing on something like a rec team at UF. They travel to various universities and play other rec teams, and this weekend they're in Clemson, just down the highway from us.
The Boy had his first spring-season soccer game today. We had some worries that he wouldn't be on the same team as the previous three or four seasons, but with some polite asking and a little string-pulling, we managed to get him back on that team. It's a good coach with a good group of boys, and they should have a strong showing this season.
And so, as we so often did in the past, we had split duty today: K went to cheer on L while E and I stayed behind for soccer and youth orchestra make-up practice.
The Boy's team dominated in the early minutes, quickly going up 2-0. After that initial surge, though, their dominance waned a bit, and they even allowed a goal. "We got too comfortable after that," he explained as we were leaving after the first half to head to rehearsal. When I picked him up three hours later after rehearsal ("Oh, I forgot how awful those long rehearsals are," he moaned as he got in the car), he told me that he'd gotten a text about the game: 5-2. An overall dominant performance.
The Girl's team also had a dominant performance, not losing a single game and losing only one set. K said the Girl played as well as she's played in a long time, with some really strong kills and overall aggressive play. They walked away with the tournament victory and big smiles.
Afterward, just like old times, the Boy and I went out for Mexican at our favorite restaurant. "We've tried other places," I told the owner, "but we just keep coming back here."
afternoon
