Mary’s Piano Competition and Abe’s High School Reunion

This morning we all woke up and went to get flu shots. All of us, that is, except for Mary, who has a piano competition and so we did not want her arm getting sore. They happened to get their Covid boosters in yesterday too, so Lily and I unexpectedly got our Covid shots as well. The kids also got some extra shots they were due for.

Everyone handled their shots very calmly except for Clarissa. She asked to go last and when it was her turn, Lily held her hand while she lied down and we played music from Tuck Everlasting. When the shots happened, she burst into tears and we had to console her. Sweet girl.

Speaking of Mary’s piano competition, Lily went and took this video. Mary and Lily have been working so incredibly hard on the piece and it really shows in this video. I’m so proud of you Mary!

We found out later in the day that she qualified to go to the final competition on Monday! The notes about her performance are below:

I left around 9:30 to meet up with my friends to play ultimate Frisbee. It was honestly one of the highlights of my whole year. Was a ringleader for getting Frisbee together in high-school and some of my happiest life memories are playing Frisbee. As my friend Charlie said today, “there are few feelings in life that are better than catching a frisbee at the top of your jump in full stride.” I ran my heart out for an hour just feeling pure joy. One of my friends compared me to a gazelle, lol. It felt just like old high school Frisbee times and it was so so fun. After Frisbee, we all just chatted and then I played some basketball with Lesi, Artem and Seth.

After sports in the morning, I went to the officially organized reunion luncheon. It was incredible to so people that I hadn’t seen in 20 years! I know not everyone loves their high-school experience, or that it can be very mixed. But for me, high school was not mixed. I loved every year, and it just got better and better until my Senior Year was so happy that it was by far the happiest year of my life before meeting Lily and having a family. Being with all the people that helped make is special was a profound experience for me. I did have some embarrassment with forgetting names (and my hair was a mess, I was sweaty and in gymn clothes from having just woken up and played sports), but I really just basked in the awe of seeing all these wonderful people again after so many years and learning about how their lives turned out.

Because I got in late last night from bowling and still woke up early (inadvertently), I was feeling tired after all the activity and I went to my dads house to nap in my car for a while (all his furniture is moved out). I then showered and dressed for the evening.

I picked Anthony up and we drove to a reception hall call, “The Shop” and we had a dinner and a dance. Again, it was so amazing seeing old friends and catching up with people. I saw some funny (and embarrassing) photos that we on display as well. We had Cafe Rio, which was a repeat from yesterday, but it was so delicious, I didn’t mind at all.

When it was time to dance, I had a sinking feeling. I’m not good at dancing and I haven’t danced for probably 4 years at the last daddy daughter dance at the LDS church. I decided to just keep chatting with people (which got harder with the blaring music). But then I saw my friend Anthony dancing away with everyone and somehow that inspired me, so I jumped in and did a lot of dancing with my friends. I went from feeling like there was not one piece of me to do that, to having a blast and just letting go. That is the power of friends and music.

Speaking of friends and music, when everything wound up at the dinner/dance, we all went to Genevieve’s house. I brought my karaokee machine and we did Karaokee, and I played ping pong. I left around midnight because I was tired, but some people stayed up chatting until 4:30 in the morning!

It’s a good thing I left when I did because on the way home, I starting feeling very sick from my Covid Booster, and I had full on chills by the time I got home. What a great day!