Her First Piano Recital

This girl of mine definitely has some genes that did not originate from my body. In the weeks preceding her first piano recital, she was SO VERY excited. The full outfit, hair, cowgirl-boot ensemble was planned way in advance. The thought of all the strangers watching her play was more exciting than scary. She practiced her bow (with left hand on the piano and right hand holding music, just as her teacher demonstrated) with such seriousness and pride. The song itself was almost secondary to the event of being on stage with a live audience.

At that age, I absolutely quivered with fear at the thought, and successfully kept up a habit of either quitting lessons before a recital or navigating out of it completely until I was in fifth grade. At which point I was such a basket case that I completely froze up on stage and swore I would never take lessons ever ever again (I did, a few more times, ultimately succeeding in a recital at the college level).

But this girl... the stage is apparently calling her name quite strongly, and she performed with more confidence than most in her age group. I couldn't be prouder of my darling little stranger.

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