O.k., maybe not. I'll leave that to Liz Smith who will probably give it a rave as she was one of the hosts.
The day started with an excited and nervous Squidette periodically squeaking with excitement. Yeah, squeaking. Never said my kid was normal.
She went off to school loaded with everything she would need for the day, including her concert outfit, carefully folded around plastic bags to keep it wrinkle free. (It pretty much worked.)
About 1:00 I got a call that my notes were not good enough and I had to go sign her out of school. No big deal. Down and back to work in about 40 minutes.
We parted ways at the school door and she made her way to Carnegie Hall for rehearsal. Rehearsal went fine and the kids were loaded with sway. Useless swag but swag all the same. Well I guess the baseball cap could be useful -- except it's a Yankee's cap. And we're Mets fans.
After the rehearsal, Mike met her and took her, first, to Myzel's for some pre-performance chocolate, and then to a diner for dinner.
Fast forward to concert time. We climb to the balcony and find our seats way up high. Hey, at least we could see the entire stage. We were seated with the Kids in the Balcony program.
Perusing our programs we finally find mention of the Salute to Music program and locate Squidette's name, conveniently misspelled at the bottom of the list. Oh well, at least they got her first name right.
The program starts and the Pops launch into New York and Baseball themed pieces. Liz Smith cedes the host position to Dennis Leary who talks about the Salute to Music and Ronald McDonald House programs and then ... reads the names of all of the Salute to Music kids. And correctly pronounces Squidette's name!
The orchestra and the kids play We are the Champions and We will Rock You with the Ronald McDonald House kids drumming on buckets that spell out "GO YANKEES."
We had a decent, if tiny, view of Squidette but for some strange reason, my vision kept blurring. ( Judicious applications of kleenex seemed to solve the problem.) While we could not tell which notes were hers, we could see her fingers moving over her clarinet and she swears that she actually played.
The rest of the first half is kind of a blur but it was definitely enjoyable. Reggie Jackson did something but I could not, now, tell you what he said. A portrait of George Steinbrenner was revealed and the Pops played.
Squidette joined us in the balcony for the second half. Her smile was so big that I thought her face would crack. The Pops and various artists then entertained us with a selection of Broadway hits as they honored the Nederlanders. The kids knew many of the songs and we all enjoyed the remainder of the show. Kathleen Turner hosted.
Yesterday, we had to attach a bowling ball to Squidette's leg to keep her from floating away.
She seems to have come back to earth today and will spend the afternoon on a much more "normal" project -- preparing for the science fair. Her group is going to compare the melting times of chocolate. Yup, it's back to normal for us Squid.
The day started with an excited and nervous Squidette periodically squeaking with excitement. Yeah, squeaking. Never said my kid was normal.
She went off to school loaded with everything she would need for the day, including her concert outfit, carefully folded around plastic bags to keep it wrinkle free. (It pretty much worked.)
About 1:00 I got a call that my notes were not good enough and I had to go sign her out of school. No big deal. Down and back to work in about 40 minutes.
We parted ways at the school door and she made her way to Carnegie Hall for rehearsal. Rehearsal went fine and the kids were loaded with sway. Useless swag but swag all the same. Well I guess the baseball cap could be useful -- except it's a Yankee's cap. And we're Mets fans.
After the rehearsal, Mike met her and took her, first, to Myzel's for some pre-performance chocolate, and then to a diner for dinner.
Fast forward to concert time. We climb to the balcony and find our seats way up high. Hey, at least we could see the entire stage. We were seated with the Kids in the Balcony program.
Perusing our programs we finally find mention of the Salute to Music program and locate Squidette's name, conveniently misspelled at the bottom of the list. Oh well, at least they got her first name right.
The program starts and the Pops launch into New York and Baseball themed pieces. Liz Smith cedes the host position to Dennis Leary who talks about the Salute to Music and Ronald McDonald House programs and then ... reads the names of all of the Salute to Music kids. And correctly pronounces Squidette's name!
The orchestra and the kids play We are the Champions and We will Rock You with the Ronald McDonald House kids drumming on buckets that spell out "GO YANKEES."
We had a decent, if tiny, view of Squidette but for some strange reason, my vision kept blurring. ( Judicious applications of kleenex seemed to solve the problem.) While we could not tell which notes were hers, we could see her fingers moving over her clarinet and she swears that she actually played.
The rest of the first half is kind of a blur but it was definitely enjoyable. Reggie Jackson did something but I could not, now, tell you what he said. A portrait of George Steinbrenner was revealed and the Pops played.
Squidette joined us in the balcony for the second half. Her smile was so big that I thought her face would crack. The Pops and various artists then entertained us with a selection of Broadway hits as they honored the Nederlanders. The kids knew many of the songs and we all enjoyed the remainder of the show. Kathleen Turner hosted.
Yesterday, we had to attach a bowling ball to Squidette's leg to keep her from floating away.
She seems to have come back to earth today and will spend the afternoon on a much more "normal" project -- preparing for the science fair. Her group is going to compare the melting times of chocolate. Yup, it's back to normal for us Squid.
5 comments:
I'm glad Squidette had such a wonderful time.
DS played the bassoon so I could rarely "see" him play. I could just see his face and the top of the bassoon.
Two years ago he played very soft back up for a speaker at our church. He sat right up front and I saw his hands for the first time. Very cool. For some reason I couldn't see clearly either.
Squidette had such a wonderful time -- what an honor. You and Mike must be so proud!!!
Yay!
I knew we liked that Dennis Leary for a reason. ;^)
She looks radiant - truly a night to for you all to remember!
What a wonderful experience! Was there a writeup in the paper? If so, I'd love to read it and pretend I'd been there.
Post a Comment