Miss Texting

 

A few years back, my family and I took a trip across country to see our relatives in Orange County, California.  We are close with my siblings and their families and this was a much overdue visit.  The timing was great because my sister, Denise from Boise and her family, made the trek down.  As well, my youngest sister, Jenny, and her family drove over from Phoenix.

All five Carter siblings, with spouses and kids in tow descended upon my sister Joni’s home in Buena Park, California for a few days.  As you can imagine, it was a crowded and chaotic scene.  The small children were playing together in their cousin’s bedrooms with all the toys and games.  There was a TV playing Veggie Tales and Blues Clues videos as well.  All the while, the teens and adults are in the living room/dining room playing board games, chatting, and catching up on life events.

My sister, Denise has two children:  Kirsten and Caleb.  Both kids are autistic.  They are both highly functioning and it is always great to hear about what they have learned and how they have progressed since the last time we got together.   Kirsten functions on a more interpersonal level than Caleb.  Caleb is younger.  He is quite shy and reserved.  His interaction with others, besides his parents, is pretty limited.

My daughter, Sarah was a teenager at the time, and she had been hanging with the adults for a few hours.  She decided to go to the back of the house to see with the little kids were doing.  She saw that everyone was getting along really well but noticed that Caleb was sitting by himself watching Veggie Tales.  She decided to sit down by him.  She did not want to startle him or upset him, so she moved very slowly.  She did not sit close enough to touch him.  Caleb acted as if he did not know that she was there.

Within two minutes, Caleb stood up, moved over, and sat on Sarah’s lap to watch the video.  Sarah was in complete shock.  Caleb had never interrelated with her on his own before.  Sarah was so excited to connect with him.

She very slowly took her cell out of her pocket so as to not disturb Caleb, and without looking, sent me a text message asking me to come to Megan’s room and see.  I was still sitting at the dining room table playing cards with my sisters.  My cell phone was in my pocket, but I never received a text message from her.

After about ten minutes, Caleb got up and moved on to play with a toy.  Sarah was really disappointed that she didn’t get a picture with him sitting on her lap.  So, Sarah comes storming into the dining room.  I could tell that she was really upset.  She demanded to know why I ignored her text message.  She stood across the table with her hands on her hips waiting for my reply.

I got my cell phone out and told her that I had not received a message from anyone for over an hour.  I gave my cell to her so that she could verify that I was telling the truth.  After she confirmed that I had not received a message, she hands my cell back to me with a puzzled look on her face.

She explained that while she was in the back bedroom, Caleb sat on her lap to watch TV.  You could see in her expression how excited she was to have this interaction with him.  I asked her what message she texted to me.  She got her cell out and looked at her outgoing messages.

She gasped!  I asked what was wrong.  She said that she had sent the message but that she had sent it to an unknown number, a stranger.  I commented that it was no big deal.  The person would just disregard the message since it came from someone that they did not know.

She looked quite panicked, and said that I did not fully understand the situation.  She continued on and said that the message read:  “Come to the back bedroom, bring your camera.  I’ve got a surprise for you!”   She screeched, “Mom, what am I going to do?”  She had sent this mysterious and provocative message to a total stranger.  Sarah was mortified.

My family and I busted out laughing.  We laughed until tears were streaming down our cheeks.  Sarah finally joined in the laughter.  Even the kids came in from the other room to find out what was so funny.

Some poor guy out there in cyber-text land had just received the best text message of his life.  But, unfortunately for him, he had no idea who sent it!

There isn't a family get together when the quote:  "Come to the back bedroom, bring your camera.  I've got a surprise for you!" isn't repeated at some opportune moment.  And we laugh and laugh again!

(c) 2013 Tribal Tales  (c) 2013 Feeling Good Entertainment, LLC and Diane LeJeune

My Own Little Christmas Miracle

When my daughter, Sarah, was in Kindergarten, she decided that she wanted to audition for a solo at our church.  The song would be for the Youth Choir’s Christmas musical program.

At that time, I was serving as the Assistant Director for the Youth Choir.  I was concerned because she was so much younger than most of the kids, but I thought, “What can it hurt?”  So, I practiced with her every day to learn “Silent Night.”  We sang it at breakfast, in the car, and after story time before bed.  We sang it non-stop for weeks.

The audition day finally arrived.  I brought her to church on that designated Saturday morning in November.  I signed her up for an audition slot.

I sat in on all the auditions that morning as Steve, the choir director, asked one child after another to come in and sing “Silent Night.”  There were a lot of children who did a very nice job singing such a tough Christmas tune.  Others . . . weren’t so good.

At 11:00 a.m. it was Sarah’s turn to try out.  Steve and I had already agreed that I would leave the room.  I didn’t want to make Sarah nervous.  Also, Steve was going to make the decision on whether Sarah could sing a solo as I might find it a little hard to be objective.

So, when Sarah walked in the front door to the choir room, I made my way out through the back door.  I waved to her and smiled and then shut the door.  Secretly, I left the door open just a bit so that I could hear how she did.

Steve began with her just like all the other children.  He asked if she knew “Silent Night.”  She nodded that yes she did.  He asked her to sing the first verse.  Steve began to play the song on the old upright piano.  Sarah, very confidently, started right up singing loudly, and at the correct time.  I was so excited and nervous.  I really did not have any sense of how she would do.  I was proud that she started without any help.  And then, something went wrong, very wrong!  My excitement came crashing down.  She was singing the wrong notes!  It was as if she couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket, so to speak.  As she sang each word, and line after line, she was as confident as can be, and as the song continued she sang more and more off pitch.  I was embarrassed that she seemed so unprepared.  She had done such a great job while we were practicing.  I was completely devastated for her.  This was going to be a crushing blow.

When she finished the song, I could tell that Steve was in shock.  Her audition was horrible.  Steve had known our family for years and everyone was pretty musically gifted.  He had anticipated that Sarah would have been able to sing much better than she did.  So, he did something quite unexpected.  He asked her to sing it again.  I smiled.  He was giving her a second chance.  I took a deep breath and felt a twinge of hope.

Steve started to play again.  Sarah joined right back in on the same bad note she had left off.  And she sang off-key for the entire second chance.  I was flustered.

I quickly ran from the back side of the hallway to the front in order to meet her at the front door when she exited the room.  There was no one nearby, so I kneeled down in order to be at her level.

I was expecting the absolute worst.  I braced myself for tears and inconsolable sobbing.  I knew she had done badly and it would take weeks for her to get over this disappointment.

As she walked out the door, she calmly walked towards me.  I was a bit confused.  She wasn’t crying.  In fact, she kind of had a smirk on her face.  I took her hands in mine, and asked (as if I hadn’t listened in), “How did you do honey?”   A massive smile broke out across her face.  She boldly replied, “I DID GREAT!”

I was completely dumbfounded.  Great?  She thinks she did great?  How was that even possible?  So, I rephrased, “You did great?”  “Oh yes, mommy, I sang the song great!”  I honestly had no idea what to say.  At 5 years of age, she had no concept of what sounded good musically, so I decided not to tell her otherwise.  I did not need to be the one to burst her bubble.

I returned her to the child care play room and went back into the audition room to assist Steve.  We finished up auditions by noon.  He thanked me for my time and never once said a word about how badly Sarah had sung.  I was glad for that small blessing.

The next Wednesday night at choir, Steve posted a list of all the children’s names who got solos or speaking parts in the Christmas musical.  Right in front of me, in black and white, was Sarah’s name.  She had been cast as the angel and she was to sing a solo . . . “Silent Night.”  I was stunned.  How could that be possible?  I know Steve heard what I heard, and this clearly made no sense.

But I never asked him or questioned his decision.

The Christmas musical was scheduled for two weeks from the next Sunday.  Sarah and I rehearsed and practiced and I tried to help while being totally filled with fear and trepidation.

On that Sunday evening in December, towards the beginning of the Christmas program, my little 5 year old Sarah walked over to the microphone from the choir loft and sang her little heart out.  It was such an adorable rendition.  She sang beautifully.  It was a miracle!  I sat there with tears in my eyes.  She hit each note right on!

I have no idea, even to this day, how she pulled off such a great solo for the performance when her audition was so bad.  Sarah, now a 22 year old, can sing beautifully without a problem.  In fact, she is very involved in musical theatre.  Nothing remains of her off pitch audition that day, except for her confidence.  She’s quite a powerful singer.

That special night, she got up in front of our church, filled to capacity with 1,200 folks in the pews and sang every single note perfectly.  That night and ever since then, “SHE DID GREAT!”

© 2013 Feeling Good Entertainment, LLC and Diane C. LeJeune  “Tribal Tales”