Seven Million Notes

Friday the 13th wasn't the best day for me, but I don't really believe anything superstitious about that particular day, so you know. It was just a little hectic and rough. We were having the Boston Tea Party that day, so the students were flying a tad high, if you know what I mean.

Right before the bell rang in the morning, my crown popped off (same crown that popped off in August, if you care). I had an appointment for later this month to get the whole crown done over, but the crown just couldn't wait. So, I'm thinking, "Great. Bell's gonna ring, three day weekend is almost here, and I'm supposed to teach." I got the kids inside and told them that I had to make a quick call to my dentist. Dentist wasn't in--receptionist assured me I would be FINE until Tuesday morning. We were headed to Vegas to celebrate my husband's birthday this month. "I'm a tough girl, I can do this!"

Children have needs, a thousand each. Thirty-four children have thirty-four thousand needs and you never know what their state of mind is when they walk through that classroom door. "Can I go pay my lunch money?" "Can I call my mom, I forgot such and such." "Can I go to the bathroom?" "When are you passing out the tea bags?" And so on.

One girl waltzed in with three dozen donuts to celebrate her upcoming birthday. "When can I pass these out?" One boy waltzed in with his violin. "May I play a couple of pieces for the class?"

I took attendance, I checked planners and homework, I explained the rules for the Boston Tea Party, we sang our birthday song, I chose to eat the donut, we pledged ourselves to the flag. And so on.

You want to play your violin? Go right ahead.

It was lovely.

First he played a piece by Bach, explaining and demonstrating the proper way to pronounce Bach's name. Then he played part of an original composition which would have lasted about ten minutes had he played the whole piece, but he understood it would be better under these circumstances to play only a portion, perhaps three to five minutes. It was the most beautiful, melancholy violin music you'd ever like to hear. It made me forget about my tooth. After the applause, I commented, "That was so melancholy and sad sounding--beautiful!" His face broke into a huge grin and he said, "I LOVE to play sad violin music!" He calls this piece "Seven Million Notes."

Seven million notes. Seven million things to do in one fifth grade classroom. Seven million reasons to smile and laugh as these wonderful children help me make it through my hectic day minus one tooth. Seven million blessings!