Sophie Plays the Violin

Motherhood can take you by surprise.  Sometimes it grabs you when you least expect it, and throws you for a loop.  You would think that, after nearly thirteen years, I would know that all too well. Toss in two years of emotional highs and lows, with the unexpected lurking around nearly every corner (Australia?  Surely you are kidding?), and I should be prepared for just about anything. 

Not so, as I discovered today.  We arrived at Sophie's school for her first violin performance this afternoon, just another item to tick off on a busy weekend schedule.  Most parents know the drill all too well.  I had somehow survived Friday night, which involved taking Cameron out of school early, hurrying to pick up the girls, dropping Cameron off at a friend's house so he would have a ride to his cricket match, sorting out his transportation back home again at an unknown point in the evening, dropping the girls off at home, picking James up at kinder, scrambling to find something for dinner, cajoling Ross to leave the office early, organizing a ride for Katie to youth group at 7:30pm, figuring out how Sophie would get to her piano recital, also starting at 7:30pm, reminding her to practice one more time, organizing a babysitter for James, putting together an outfit so I could go into the city with a friend for a rare night out, watching the storm clouds gather and realizing that cricket would be called off early, calling Ross to tell him to hurry, finding an outfit for Sophie to wear, making sure Sophie ate something, and finally getting dressed in ten minutes flat. 

Miraculously it all came together. Everyone ended up where they needed to be at the right time, and Crystal and I had a most enjoyable evening admiring the work of Australian photographer Ken Duncan, whom she has followed for the past three years, at his studio in the Docklands.  I may have yawned excessively throughout the evening, but we firmly agreed that we were not going home until all children had been sleeping soundly for some time.  There were a few complaints about all the driving required from Ross, but he came through and managed to get Cameron and his friend back home from the canceled cricket match, Sophie to a successful piano concert, and all put to bed again at a fairly reasonable hour.

Saturday morning arrived far too quickly.  Thanks to the rain we had a slow start to the day, but by ten, it was time for Sophie's gymnastics class (overscheduled, yes, she is).  Ross needed to buy groceries as well as, more importantly and irritatingly, the materials necessary for Cameron to design and build a boat from recyclable materials over the next three weeks.  I squeezed in coffee with two friends, most enjoyable interludes I would not have done without, but suddenly realized we were in danger of being late for the violin recital.  We rushed out the door, in the process forgetting the morning tea required for after the performance, and also neglecting to double check the location and time of Cameron's basketball game (he ended up missing it as a result).  It was after trudging up the hill to the performance hall, and looking around at the tripods being set up around the room, expensive digital SLRs clicked on, tested, and focused, and video cameras turned to the correct settings, that I realized that a camera had never once crossed my mind.  Thank goodness for iphones.

http://youtu.be/T-g_aSEfy7A  

Sophie was third on the docket, a relief to both of us I believe.  I listened to her introduce herself and her song with that nervous, sick feeling that parents get at recitals, completely unprepared for the waves of emotion that hit as she began to play.  The tears were so unexpected.  Most of motherhood is rather mundane, filled with the endless cycles of cleaning, reminding, correcting, finding, teaching, and more cleaning, wondering will they ever grow up and become more responsible.  The moments of joy and pride can seem few and far between, but how sweet when they do come .    I allowed the tears to overflow from time to time throughout the hour-long performance, enjoying the gift of young girls playing beautiful music, and grateful for this time to sit and savor four terms' worth of hard work for teachers, parents, and students alike.

In the absence of family close by, how one possibly manages parenting without friends, I really don't know.   This weekend, I relied on several of them, including Gillian to provide a ride for Cameron after cricket as well as a last minute dress and fashion advice for Friday night, Jeannie for supplying chocolate cake and watermelon when I forgot the morning tea (and coming to my rescue when I had no cash to pay for breakfast), Sharon for taking over my regular job of chauffer on Friday night, and Crystal for a fun evening out.  My gratitude, while not adequately expressed at the time, is most sincere.

Comments

[Suzanne]

Sophie did an excellent job Christie!

I do have to tell you though, that we then clicked on youtube to watch your other videos and watched the ones of James on the monkey bars over and over! We LOVED his little legs kicking back and forth!! We could not get enough of the amount of energy he had flinging his legs to get across and then the expresson on his face when he did get across - priceless! So adorable. Thanks for sharing! Miss you guys

[Christie]

Marion McLaggan Love this! Sophie, you play beautifully!

Joseph Smith Nice job, Sophie. You look so tall and poised!

Gillian Gavarotto Brown Now, I'm crying!