Where the heck did the school year go?

I blinked and somehow there are just 11 more school days after today. Then Reed will be done with middle school. DONE! This school year has just flown by, it's kind of hard to fathom. Seems like we just got in a groove ten minutes ago and BOOM it's nearly over. But I suppose that's a good thing, right?

Music

I often hear other moms talking about their kids listening to the Beatles or other "classic" music and wonder if I've gone about this music thing all wrong. When the kids were smaller, we only listened to "kids" music that they liked – Disney soundtracks and other music designed for kids. When we got the minivan, then we listened to the Kids Place Live channel on XM and that was pretty much the extent of their music exposure. I wanted them to hear music that was meant for them, music that would "speak" to them - and it did! But I now realize that they missed out on learning about other kind of music in their "formative years" and I hope they'll be able to recover! (only partly kidding)

When I was a kid, of course all we had to listen to in Mom's car was the radio. (Dad was fancy...he had an 8-track player for at least some of the time!) And she picked what we listened to – seems to me it was mainly oldies - 50s and 60s. Old country, too. When it was just the three of us, she also played music at night (loud!) after we went to bed, and it was a wide variety of stuff - the Eagles, Al Green, Emmylou Harris, Jimmy Buffett, the Commodores, the Beach Boys - it was all over the map. And that made an impression on me – I still love (most of) that stuff!

Their musical tastes are becoming more varied now, but it's mostly pop music. Which is fine, but it'd be awesome if they liked the stuff that I like! *Sigh* Maybe one day. Amy's on a big "Hamilton" kick and Reed surprised me by saying he like an album the Red Hot Chili Peppers put out last year. I know they'll eventually find their way to "their" true musical love one day.

I just hope they'll one day be able to sing along to Stevie Wonder's "Sir Duke"...

Music is a world within itself
With a language we all understand
With an equal opportunity
For all to sing, dance and clap their hands
But just because a record has a groove
Don't make it in the groove
But you can tell right away at letter A
When the people start to move
They can feel it all over
They can feel it all over people

And maybe a George Jones song or two.

(And I really feel like I've written about this before, but I can't find it if I did!)

Amy's new-found love

Amy was so excited to get the opportunity to participate in the middle school musical. I thought she might want to do set design, but she decided on stage crew. That meant staying after school a couple of days a week, coming in for a couple of Saturdays, and being at school for hours during "tech week" (the week the play starts). The show was "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" and the kids all did a terrific job!

Stage crew, along with art teacher Mr. Kruczkowski,
working hard on a Saturday afternoon, helping out the set design team.

It was really great for Amy to get involved with the "drama kids" and find a space to belong. I think she gained a lot of confidence and more of a sense of belonging by being part of the play.

Everybody taking a bow, stage crew in the back.

Since my friend (and mom to Amy's pal Morgan) Valerie was the parent lead with the play, I also had the chance to do a lot of helping out - selling tickets, setting up snacks for the kids, and helping with the end of play party. It was exhausting, but fun!

Mr. K, who was Amy's art teacher earlier in the year and was the lead staffer for stage crew, was so glad that Amy and a couple other six graders had such a great time with the play, since now he knows he's got lots of kids to help with the next two years' plays!

Grateful that the kids' school has such fantastic opportunities for the kids!