Very Grand Birthday Party

It'll soon be my granddaughter's 3rd birthday.  She's been putting together her guest list:  Barbie, Cinderella, Aurora, Monsters Inc, Dora, Caillou, Madeline, Minnie Mouse and certainly Sophia the First.  If you don't recognize any of the above, you haven't spent enough time around little girls lately!

Before my recent birthday, the same little girl asked me who I wanted to invite to my party.  That got me thinking and I've decided it would be large and very grand.

Be Purposeful

It was a major comeuppance!

I took up learning to play the flute as an adult.  I was working in a junior high school at the time and the music teacher was coaching me.  She had taught me the basics but I was having trouble with making a clear sound and with finding exact pitch.  She listened to me for about 30 seconds then bludgeoned me with the words:

 “Don’t be such a wimp! Let me see you take a deep breath and blow that thing! Sound like you mean it!”

I was thoroughly chastened.  And to be honest, my feelings were a bit hurt.  I had been prepared for her to correct all sorts of periphery things – my stance, the way I held the flute, maybe even tell me the flute was faulty.  Instead she challenged me on the very core of making sound – be purposeful about it!  I learned that to make even the softest sound I must blow purposefully, though not strongly, across the mouthpiece.

That lesson was one I learned well.  That one statement of correction has profoundly affected my life.  In everything I do, or attempt, there it is - that benchmark!

BE PURPOSEFUL!

And so I reflect from time to time ...