Lefts and Rights of Passage

I’m happy to say that the show at Michelle’s school was a smashing success. The theme this year was Give My Regards to Broadway, and it was basically a revue of show tunes. There were alot of talented kids in this year’s graduating class. Some years there’s just one or two eighth graders, but this year there were more than thirty, including a good handful of soloists. They did the same Phantom/Les Mis medley that we did in the Cabaret show a few years ago, and I’d say they did a better job. This is the fifth year or so I played in the band in its various permutations, maybe the seventh show. It gets easier and more fun every year as I’ve gotten to feel familiar with this group of musicians, and at this point I’ve played with everyone in the group. My playing is at a level now where I can read thru the songs once and pretty much be good. I only learned Friend Like Me when we were setting up for the first show.

Another highlight: Michelle had a ukulele solo in We Are Made of Stars. We practiced that one together a few times. She nailed it.

Today I gave Lizzy her first lesson in driving a car. I gave her a basic safety primer then took her to an empty parking lot and had her practice driving around slowly, doing circuits of the lot, mainly just lifting her foot off the brake and letting the car roll. Once she got comfortable with starting and stopping and steering and shifting between park and drive, I let her give it a bit of gas. She got up to 11 mph (17kph) one time! Then on the way home I had her drive the last block to our house and park in the driveway. She did very well and was quite thrilled. Next time I’ll have her go in reverse and learn to park with a bit of precision, and maybe even try some neighborhood streets, get up to 15 or 20!

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