Two years ago today, I began my senior piano recital with Schumann's intense and dramatic Sonata in g minor, Opus 22. "Two opuses before he lost his mind," my professor used to say. Nonetheless, it's a beautiful piece.
Some Mozart and Bach pieces followed, and then things got to be far less serious as a friend read nursery rhymes and I played their fanciful arrangements. We both added ribbon and pigtails to our hair for the finale. The Lonesome Whistler, The Man on the Moon, and Mr. Arkensas Traveler (among others) ended the program, and we all came out to festive refreshments arranged by my mother and company.
I've always been smugly satisfied that--completely on accident and in total ignorance--I scheduled the recital to take place during the Superbowl. All my true friends were forced skip out on the game for some culture!
My mom decided on a garden theme, to combine my musical milestone with my other true love of being in the dirt. Above, you can see that she mixed ground up Oreo cookies with chocolate pudding and added a gummy worm and a silk flower to each one.
At the head of each row of veges stood its identifying seed packet. I put the seeds to good use that spring in my little flower beds turned vegetable patches. (More about that another time!)
Even though I didn't march until June, I've counted February 5 as the end of my college career, the true day to celebrate and remember. Since then, nothing has quite been like I expected it would be, but God is directing it all and stays by my side each day. Who could ask for more than that?
"The heart that receives the word of God is like the mountain stream, fed by unfailing springs, whose cool, sparkling waters leap from rock to rock, refreshing the weary, the thirsty, the heavy-laden...The stream that goes singing on its way leaves behind its gift of verdure and fruitfulness. The grass on its banks is a fresher green, the trees have a richer verdure, the flowers are more abundant."
Two years ago today, I began my senior piano recital with Schumann's intense and dramatic Sonata in g minor, Opus 22. "Two opuses before he lost his mind," my professor used to say. Nonetheless, it's a beautiful piece.
My mom decided on a garden theme, to combine my musical milestone with my other true love of being in the dirt. Above, you can see that she mixed ground up Oreo cookies with chocolate pudding and added a gummy worm and a silk flower to each one.
At the head of each row of veges stood its identifying seed packet. I put the seeds to good use that spring in my little flower beds turned vegetable patches. (More about that another time!)
Nearly every day since this little one was born, I have passed by and said hello to him. Sometimes he wanders over to visit me at the fence's edge. In summer, the field across the road had a wealth of alfalfa flowers for him to eat from my hand (unless, of course, his parents came and stole them away first--ornery creatures). Now the ground is frozen or snowy, and all I have to offer is a scratch on the nose and a cheery greeting.
