A band concert miracle

The craziness of the Christmas season has nothing on May and June. This time of year rushes by at an unbelievable pace of commencements and sacraments and all the other end-of-school-year events.

I’m grateful for all of it, of course. We’ve tried the alternative over the past couple years, and there is a joy to the frenzy of spring. But does anyone remember how we said we would try not to overschedule ourselves?

Now, I haven’t been to a school band concert in a good two-and-a-half years. So, my heart leaped when the flyer came home detailing the spring band concert schedule. I haven’t seen our sixth-grader perform since a fourth-grade winter concert that featured multiple renditions of “Hot Cross Buns.” And our eighth-grader has made progress that can be harder to recognize in your echoey basement than on a stage.

That said, I couldn’t tell from the flyer whether we were looking at two nights of concerts or even two concerts on the same night. The schedule named which band was when, but I had no idea which bands our sons were in.

I didn’t mind so much until we started getting closer to the concerts. I found myself thinking how wonderful it would be to have ordinary dinners at home and not lose two nights to concerts—or a whole huge long night of two concerts.

Finally, we were down to the wire, and I asked our boys to find out from their teacher which concert they were each part of. One knew right away which one he was in.

Then his brother came home and reported that he would be performing in the very same concert as his brother.

I didn’t weep tears of joy. But I did sing the song that Ariel sings when she gives her voice to Ursula the Sea Witch in The Little Mermaid. I sent my husband an email titled, “HALLELUJAH!”

School band concerts are terrific. But, much as I love to watch all the children play, I must confess that—shocking as this is—I’m really just there to see my sons perform. And, I’m perfectly happy to have one 45-minute concert to enjoy—and then leave our seats for someone else to use for the other concert.

God knows what I need. He wants me to be happy. And He loves me.

He also knows that next year I’ll be at a thousand middle and high school band concerts—and enjoying every single one. I can’t wait. But let me enjoy this moment. Hooray for a slightly simpler spring.

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