Jenerally Speaking

When Meghan was in 1st grade I decided that I would no longer video tape the entire length of her school concerts anymore. I never really watched the entire performance from kindergarten and chances are I would never watch the entire video of any concert that would follow.
Sure, I’d pop in the tape to watch a few minutes of her kindergarten concert to see how sweet and little she looked. But, I honestly would not sit back and watch the entire 90 minute performance again.
Soooo, I came up with an idea.
I would have one video tape. The Official School Concert Tape. This tape would hold a total of five to ten minutes from each of her school concerts.
Now, that I would sit down and watch. Imagine the tape beginning with her in kindergarten then five minutes later there she is again singing in first grade. Then second grade and so forth.

In theory – it sounded like a terrific idea.

Well, last year I couldn’t find the Official Concert Tape so I had to use another tape. It was no big deal since I just figured I would copy 5 minutes of the concert to the Official Tape when I found it again. Well, the tape in my video camera got all bent and had a horrid line running through the entire performance. Second grade ended up being a no-go.

Tonight was the 3rd grade performance. Was I prepared? Of course not. No papers were sent home about the concert and my daughter (who is turning out to be as ‘blonde’ as I am) tells me this afternoon that her concert is in 3 hours.
So, I rush her into the shower, I search for her long black skirt and sparkle white shirt, I have to head out to the store to get stockings for her…all the while, praying for just a small ounce of patience and black stockings, too….and I then grab my video camera and out the door we go.
As I am sitting in my seat in the auditorium, preparing the camcorder, I notice that the little picture of the battery in the viewscreen looks awfully empty. Within seconds the screen goes black.
So much for the 3rd Grade concert.

At least I took a picture of her standing in our dining room before we left the house. *sigh* Well, maybe someone will read this and actually be successful in using my idea for an Official School Concert Tape.
Aside from the camcorder mishap, it was a good night. Meg adores her music teacher and I can see why – he has a terrific sense of humor and joked with the students throughout the entire performance. He obviously loves his job and really likes the kids. Some people were just born to be school teachers – they have a very special gift.