My daughter and two of her friends were supposed to go to an orchestra festival at a private college in northeast Iowa, as they've done throughout their high school years. There was a transportation snafu, so they needed a parent to volunteer to drive. Both of the other mom's were already scheduled, so GULP, it was on me whether they got to attend this event during their senior year, (as the school system would not allow their teacher/conductor to take them.)
I may have mentioned that I have some issues with anxiety, so this was a challenge for me. No the drive wasn't very far, maybe 90 miles or so, but I had to take the truck rather than my familiar little comfy car, the roads up there are curvy and hilly, (seriously, Iowa isn't all flat rows of corn), and most challenging for me I was responsible for driving them home in the dark safely. I HATE night-driving with a passion!
We arrived in good time on Sunday, got the "kids" fed and to registration and tryouts. So as my anxiety waned theirs kicked in, but all 3 got respectable places in the best of the two orchestras, the chamber orchestra. They spent Sunday and Monday zipping from practices, to technique instruction courses, to master classes, etc. We pretty much saw them on occasional breaks, or in between running to different buildings on campus, oh and did I mention these have been two more of the coldest days/nights of an unbelievably frigid season, even for us Iowa weather veterans, brrrr!
I thought that their conductor would have more scheduled events to attend as well, but she only had one official meeting with the other conductors, and would occasionally pop in on the students' lessons. So we had a lot of time on our hands. I attempted to nap in a cozy little lounge I had found, but the opera students suddenly materialized and I couldn't handle them for long!
Discovered a lounge in another building with a cozy fireplace, and if the weather had been more inviting there was a lovely, huge deck with adirondack chairs overlooking a tree-covered area of hills and a little valley.
Anyway, we had ourselves a little pizza party after the final practice, and before we knew it their awesome concert was over. It was time to load up in the ol' truck, as my anxiety began rocketing skyward. Thank God there was no snow, just bitter cold, a bit of ground fog, (which I certainly didn't expect this time of year), and all of the aforementioned hills and curves. The kids shared lots of stories and belly laughs, a great hurrah was heard when the conductor received a text that there would be a two hour delay at school Tuesday due to the bitter temperatures! We eventually arrived safely back at our high school. It was a stressful, yet fun weekend, and I earned a new moniker, "Mamma D"! Gotta love these kids. :)
