Perfect 10

You know how it is....nobody's kid is quite as cute as yours. And you can watch your own little Mozart do their schtick 50 million times and think each performance is better than the last one. On the contrary, even once through somebody else's kids' performance can sometimes be torture. Imagine that times almost 60 kids, 2nd to 6th grade at the District Praise & Talent showcase for our church.

Thus I figured I would spend my Saturday suffering through a ba-jillion performances of somebody else's little darlings in order for the audience to have the privilege of hearing my own little angel. I figured that at least as soon as Caroline was done performing, we'd wait for her friend, Madison to complete her two events and then we could at least duck out for a quick jaunt to a nearby coffee shop or maybe even head home early.

I realized that we would all be staying for the duration of the event when I was handed a judge's folder with the accompanying instructions and list of vocal solo performers that I would be judging. As luck would have it, Caroline was #4 on the roster and Madison was #28 for art work and and #34 for her vocal solo. I think they did that purposely so I wouldn't be able to leave early! The rest of the roster was filled with various and assundry performances of puppet shows, vocal and instrumental numbers, arts, crafts and any other skill that a kid wanted to share.

In all honesty, the day flew by as the performers were really fun to listen to, and they all did a really great job. There were some very cute little ones along with some astonishingly gifted kids in the group. It was also a rare chance for me to help the kids I judged to build some skills in confidence and composure that they'll use throughout their lives. Another benefit was driving along beautiful scenery of the NY Finger Lakes chatting with my jewelry store friend, Jill (Madison's mom) and Miss Cheryl (kids' pastor at our church).

The bonus of the day was that both Caroline and Madison were among the few kids who were invited to perform at the summer family church camp in July. Of course they were both really excited about that and as you can imagine, Caroline is already planning what she'll wear. I'm discouraging black in favor of pink.