What Do You Do?

"When you go on an audition, it's very frightening." 

-Victoria Jackson

So what do you do after a week, ok a month, all right an entire year of soccer games and music concerts and recitals and plays? What do you do when you are running on fumes, ok the fumes ran out a long time ago, you're running on sheer will power? 

What do you do when your son comes up to you and says, "Be sure to sign me up for soccer next year!" This as he runs out to the front yard to practice before the game he is so excited for? Oh, and by the way, he'd like to try basketball next year.

Well, you take a deep breath in, and you sign him up for soccer next year. And you start saving up for basketball shoes and fees.

What do you do when your son wants to try out for musical theatre next year? Well, you email the theater teacher and start looking up monologues for your son to work on. That's what you do.

What do you do when your violinist says that she might like to try out for Davis Youth next year? That it would be fun to be in the symphony with her sister? You tell her that that is a fabulous idea, and you start saving your pennies. That's what you do.   

What do you do when your cellist informs you that she has an audition for Utah Youth Symphony in two days, that she still plans on doing Davis Youth Symphony, that this symphony costs four times as much as Davis, that the rehearsals are 30 miles away, and that they rehearse for four hours a week?

Well, you pick your chin up off the floor, and your drive your daughter to Gardner Hall.

And you watch her warm up with butterflies in your stomach.

And you hold your breath as she goes into the audition, and you pray she makes it.

That's what you do. Because right now, it really isn't about me having leisurely Saturdays or quiet evenings at home, is it? I am the facilitator of my children's dreams. They are only children for a short time. I want them to live it to the fullest, but they can't do that by themselves. They need funding and transportation and a fan club in the audience or the sidelines. 

So that's what I'll do, for another year. Thank heavens there is a summer for refueling. Because this tank is EMPTY.