things i learn at a band concert

i have to face reality. i need glasses.

tonight was my son's last school band concert of the year... and forever. he's decided he's not going to take band next year, his senior year. so anyways, my husband and i got there a little late and ended up sitting in the very back of the auditorium. there were a couple of reasons i didn't want to sit up there. when i mentioned to my husband that one of them was the fact that i couldn't see the students very well, he handed me his glasses and said, "here, try these."

whoa!! i put them on and i felt like a whole new world opened up to me. everything that had been out of focus was now crystal clear. i knew my eye sight was getting bad but i didn't realize how much. i've been putting off going in for an eye exam but will now schedule that for as soon as possible. i'm not really looking forward to wearing glasses all the time but i guess it will be worth it if i'll be able to see things afar again.

the other reason i didn't want to sit in the back of the auditorium was because that's where parents sit with their younger children. they sit in the back so their bored kids don't become a distraction to the rest of the audience. well, i didn't want them to be a distraction to me either. but as it turned out, they weren't. in fact, it was a real pleasure to watch some of them.

there was one little girl who did her own version of conducting the band. and a toddler boy who just felt like he needed to dance to the music. both of them were too cute. it was a wonderful lesson to me in that if we lower (or abandon) our expectations, we might find simple pleasures that we might not have ordinarily seen or experienced. that and the innocence of children that we too often overlook.

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link of the day:
http://www.sandiegozoo.org/zoo/ex_panda_station.html