About a year ago, when I dusted my violin off for the first time in several years, I let each of my kids try their hand at playing it. My six year old (five at the time), was especially interested and after I let her play for a while, I turned to my husband and said “God wants her to play the violin.” I was just that sure of it. I’m a little insecure in my teaching (and playing!) abilities, however, so I started looking for someone who could teach her through the same method I was taught (Suzuki.) I called several music stores in the area, and they gave me the names and numbers of a few private instructors, but none of them taught Suzuki (and none of them took children as young as five.) I was encouraged to try the music department at Western in hopes of finding a student there who might teach, but it didn’t sound promising and my natural inclination to procrastinate kicked in so I always “meant” to call, but never did.
Thankfully, God knows I’m a procrastinator and decided to take matters into His own hands. The other day, I was invited to join a parenting group on facebook, and a cello instructor at Western mentioned that they would be starting their youth Suzuki strings program soon. Wait! What?!
I jumped on the website and started gathering information. Unfortunately, the price for an hour long lesson was FAR beyond our budget. Their thirty minute lessons were a little more within our reach, but along with being a procrastinator I’m also a perfectionist and I didn’t want to enroll my daughter in a 30 minute lesson. I decided I’d call today to find out if they offered scholarships.
And I meant to. I really did. But the first time I thought about it, I was cooking breakfast (“I’ll do it later.”) The second time I thought of it, I was answering a really important email (I’ll do it later.”) The third time I thought of it I was clipping my toenails (okay, not really, but you catch my drift.) 🙂
After allowing the whole morning to slip away (without calling), I checked facebook and found a message from the cello instructor, asking if I had any questions. I asked about the possibility of a scholarship and she gave me the number of the violin instructor and the program coordinator and told me to call.
And surprisingly enough, I did! I called the program coordinator, left a message, and planned to call the violin instructor a little later on. The first time I thought about calling her…
mmhmm.
About an hour later the program coordinator still hadn’t called me back, and I still hadn’t called the violin instructor when I got an email from the violin instructor who had gotten my email from the cello instructor (God bless her!) She asked me to call her, so I did. Right then.
She couldn’t talk long, but she briefly explained to me that they did have a scholarship program and that with the scholarship, the lessons would be within our budget. She was actually quoting me the discounted price for the 30 minute lessons (which I didn’t think I wanted), but I didn’t find that out until later. She then let me know that there was a meeting at Western that evening at 5pm, and could I come?
Did I mention that I’m a procrastinator? I’m also the world’s least spontaneous person. I rarely go anywhere without having it planned at least a week in advance. On top of that, my oldest daughter was sick and there was no one to watch her. I told her I couldn’t come, but she really encouraged me to try so I said I would.
It was 3:00 at the time which means I had an hour to find someone to watch my oldest and get everyone dressed and out the door. (Those of you who have one or two kids and aren’t completely disorganized may not appreciate the impossibility of what I’m describing here. When we’re scheduled to go anywhere, it’s absolutely necessary to get all the kids clothes and shoes and socks laid out the night before. In fact, if I know we won’t have much time to get dressed for our appointment, we just skip dressing altogether and sleep in the clothes we need to wear. That’s the reality I live in, guys… my life simply does not include “quick trips” anywhere.)
Needless to say, I was pretty resigned to not making it. I did, however, call all of my friends to tell them about the possibility that my daughter was going to be enrolled in lessons, because I was bursting at the seams with excitement.
And then God intervened again.
I happened to mention to Manuela that there was a meeting tonight and she invited me to bring the kids over. I explained that my oldest was sick, but she said that was no problem (bless her!) and encouraged me to go. This was at 3:30. Thirty minutes to get me and my six year old showered, the other five kids dressed (no shower for them), hair brushed (skipped it), clean shirt for the two coming with me (managed to find two that were stained, but clean), headcovering for the six year old (the other girls went without) and shoes for everyone (oldest couldn’t find any, second oldest had to wear winter boots.)
Long story short, I made it out the door on time, didn’t get lost on the way, and we made it there 15 minutes before 5:00.
When the meeting started, the first thing the three instructors did was play for us and sitting there, thinking of all the wonderful things God had done to ensure that we got to that meeting, considering the possibility that my little girl was going to be learning the same beautiful things I had learned when I was her age, I started to cry.
Right there in a room full of strangers!
I held it together well enough that I wasn’t a snotty, slobbering mess, but I still felt completely ridiculous, tearing up right there in the classroom.
God is good.
I’ve mentioned before that I don’t cry easily, and that’s something I’ve been praying about, so I won’t fault Him for His method or timing. And by the time I found out that the price I’d been quoted was for the thirty minute less and not the hour lesson, I could have cared less.
My daughter is going to be a violinist!!!
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