PIANO RECITAL

Kaden and Taylor's piano recital happened to be on one of the busiest Saturdays I can remember. We had to get down there as quickly as possible and at the last minute I remembered that I had to bring cookies. I have to admit that I did the homemaker unthinkable....I took some girl scout cookies and put them on a platter. Oh the horror! Once I got there I put them at the back of the table so no one would know I brought them...Back to the story. We were racing to the piano recital which just so happened to be off of one of the longest roads in all of San Diego. I had my handy little GPS but it wasn't so handy that day. I drove up and down the LONG and red light filled road twice from end to end until another mom from the recital called me and whispered "where are you, Kaden's next!" I panicked and she gave me great directions and I finally got there. We quietly ran into the studio and sat down trying not to make a scene. Of course we made one and everyone saw me put the cookies at the back of the table and my secret was out. Luckily we made it just in time for Taylor and Kaden to play their songs. Kaden went first and he did amazing. He has really gotten better this last year. There have been a couple of times where I go into the piano room to tell Taylor how well her songs sound only to realize that it is Kaden. He's played the prelude music in Primary before the adult pianist gets in there and he does a great job. Taylor went next and she also did a great job. It is cute how both their dimples (on the left side of their face) show up when the are concentrating. They definitely look related when in deep thought. They did their proper bows when finished while trying hard not to laugh and played their songs without a hitch.

After Taylor played, her teacher got up and explained what the year had been like with Taylor. Taylor was signed up in the fall to take the big state wide Certificate of Merit test. It is something our piano teacher encourages some of her students to do if she thinks they are ready. It really stresses Taylor out but I think it is really good for her. She was on track with CM and working hard when she broke her wrist in January. The CM test was 6 weeks away when she broke her arm and we were told that she would have her cast on for 6 weeks. Her piano teacher decided to really focus on her theory and the left hand of her piano pieces. Taylor kept begging me to let her quit the test - she was terrified that she would fail. I kept telling her that I didn't care if she failed as long as she tried her hardest. We had already paid the money so what did we have to lose? We also said a lot of prayers and she said a lot of personal prayers. Secretly I knew she would give it her all and would do well. Taylor's teacher then told the audience that Taylor did pass and did very well on her CM. She also told us later that she ended up playing the right hand (the broken one) better than the left! Taylor blushed a few colors of red as she heard that and I quietly sat in the back doing the Mom ESP thing to Taylor's brain saying over and over again "I told you so, I told you so, I told you so!" I've realized ESP gloating is a lot more successful than saying it to their faces. :)