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Waiting for a trumpet

September 5, 2019
By Rita Buettner
Filed Under: Blog, Open Window

Being a younger sibling is not always easy.Two years ago, when our older son entered fourth grade, we found out he had the opportunity to learn to play an instrument in the school band. We rented a trumpet, and he started lessons at school.

His younger brother desperately wanted a trumpet, too. But he was only in second grade. Unfair though it might seem, brass instruments are a fourth-grade thing.

So, he waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Finally, finally, it was the summer before fourth grade.

“I can’t wait to get my trumpet!” he would say as the summer wore on.

The days pass so slowly when you’re 9. Eventually, though, we reached the end of the summer. School started again. He knew the trumpet was coming. Or he hoped it was.

“What if I don’t get to play the trumpet?” he asked us. “What if I have to play a different instrument?”

I don’t know anything about brass instruments, but I assured him that the teacher would help him pick a good instrument. Still, he had his heart set on the trumpet.

The first day of school passed.

Then the second day passed.

Finally, at last, on the third day of school, the instrumental music teacher met with our boy and confirmed that the trumpet was a good fit for him. That same night, my husband took him to the music store to rent a trumpet.

Our 9-year-old was so excited that he blew that trumpet in the car on the way home. He played it until I told him it was bedtime—and he kept blowing into it until I insisted that he stop and brush his teeth.

Each of us should have something that we look forward to that much.

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Rita Buettner

Rita Buettner is a wife, working mother and author of the Catholic Review's Open Window blog. She and her husband adopted their two sons from China, and Rita often writes about topics concerning adoption, family and faith.

Rita also writes The Domestic Church, a featured column in the Catholic Review. Her writing has been honored by the Catholic Press Association, the Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Press Association and the Associated Church Press.

View all posts from this author

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