2002-10-13-10:13 p.m.

Megan made the region choir. She missed the cut-off for pre-area by one chair, but she gets to try out anyway. I'm not sure what that means, but it sounds good. Now if we can just get the voice teacher to teach Megan even while she's on her vacation from giving lessons...

Bragging moment -- Megan is a freshman! She has already learned how to conquer her nervousness. I'm so proud of her. Making region was a highlight of the day, but it wasn't the only highlight.

Imagine around two hundred high school students sitting, lying, standing around a high school cafeteria. They're eating, drinking, laughing, playing cards, dancing. They're all pretty much bored out of their minds waiting for the try-outs to start.

A woman walks in and goes quickly over to the microphone. She signals this guy at the sound board and a tape of the piano accompaniment to the try-out music begins. The laughing and talking cease and two hundred voices begin singing in Russian. I'm surrounded. There's dissonance. The soprano part is too far away from the bass part. It's disjointed. It's in a minor key. But then the song resolves and there are two hundred voices singing in Russian in a major key, the melody falls in line with the other parts, it's beautiful, more than beautiful and all I can do is try to keep from crying in front of all those kids.

I am one of maybe three or four parents in that cafeteria and I feel sorry for all the ones who stayed home today. I am so tired I can't see straight, but it was a good day, an unforgettable day.

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