Moments of greatness

In the previous post, I wrote of an incidence that Br. had last weekend that is familiar to all of us - failure (or the "appearance" of it). He feels he failed, but many of us know that he LEARNED. I feel failure is only when you don't learn from the experience.

So, in this post, I have to write about success. W. has been involved in performing arts for years. She sings, acts, plays the piano, and dances. However, she gets VERY nervous. She knows it and still gets up there and performs. Some performances have been better than others. She says that the most nerve racking is playing the piano. Still, this girl WORKS HARD. She practices, listens, observes, and practices, practices, practices.

This past weekend, she too was involved in our 4-H district competition. There were twenty-five other competitors in her division (instrumental) and about twelve were in her age range. About half of the twelve were pianists. Two of the pianists were EXCEPTIONALLY talented and played very difficult pieces. Even though W.'s piece wasn't quite as difficult, she played with such emotion and proficiency, she was not only given a blue ribbon, she was asked to play her piece in the award's ceremony.

Big deal? Yes, it is. They only choose 1 person from each category to perform (voice, instrumental, dance, and drama). We were stunned. W. hasn't been playing as long as the other girls and even in the five years she's had lessons, she took about a year off.

I don't usually like to post stuff like this, but W. earned it. I'm also glad she could recognize the superiority of the other two girls. They really were and it was a total enjoyment to hear them. She told me she knew they were better, but it just felt good to play her piece to the best of her ability in front of judges.