The Desire of Her Heart

I received the above at about 10:40a.m. as a text followed by about 25 happy/partying emoticons.  The important part is the  "Congratulations on your acceptance....."

As you might know, Molly is extremely musical.  She has been playing an instrument faithfully since kindergarten and has a very solid musical foundation. She also has a naturally unfailing ear and intuition about music. When she was around 2, I did a little experiment where I would play/sing a note on the scale and tell her to sing it back to me.  She did it perfectly, every time. Side note: I excitedly showed her father this and he responded, "Is that good?"  When she auditioned for the Michigan State Children's Choir in 4th grade, the notoriously tough director said, "Well, you really need to sing louder and with more confidence, but WHAT AN EAR! You have perfect pitch, my dear." 

Molly is very generous in her opinion of the musical talent of others. She supports all sorts of start-up you-tube artists and is the biggest cheerleader of her friends and acquaintances.  This does not spread to her treatment of her own abilities.  While she is very courageous and auditions for tough things on a regular basis, she is never confident that she will "make it."

Her school has what is basically a show choir and I must agree with her that it is really impressive.  They are called the Madrigals and they always perform a-capella, are a mix of male and female, and sing about fifty parts to each song (imagine that I had occasion to have to explain "hyperbole" to Anna yesterday afternoon). Molly looks up to these Madrigals and would cut off her right arm to be part of this group.  So she once again reached inside, pulled out her bravery, and auditioned. She decided she would try out as an alto since she thought less people would be doing so, and she worked really hard to prepare. 

She didn't even want to talk about the audition.  When she finally did, she was teary.  While she said she hit the notes, her voice sounded ugly and her nervousness showed.  She was mad at herself for not doing as well as she knows she could have. Her father and I told her we were proud of her for trying. I also added that I thought perfect pitch and ability to sight-read music goes a long way. Altos especially need to have this gift as they rarely sing the melody.  When she left, I told Jeff if she didn't make it, it would be because they needed someone who could display a lot of confidence and have a good dose of showmanship.

And now the text.

Jeff and I called each other and chatted briefly after the message came about how proud of her we were, also noting that now our lives just became even more complicated.  This is coinciding with the start of track, which of COURSE she MUST be in as well (for what might have been the first time in my life I advocated against running), and both meet every day to practice. And Daddy is, I am not exaggerating this time, barely home in March.

But I know when my kid REALLY longs for something.  Molly really longs to be in Madrigals.  This is a good, good kid. We knew when she said she wanted to audition what would happen if she made it, and I honestly thought that she had a good chance.  And when the moment presents itself that my child, who has delighted herself in doing for others and being happy for others, is presented with achieving the desire of her heart, of course I will do everything in my power (and outside too, which I think this will take as I see all the colors colliding into conflicting slots on the Google calendar...) to make it happen.