Can You Hear Me Now?

 Sweet little Ari has been practicing hard on cello for two orchestra auditions she has next week.  My friend Jennifer had a recital for her piano students yesterday, and was kind enough to let Ari perform her piece for the audience.  (Thanks, Jennifer!  As we were savoring each bite of your apple pie last night, Golda asked, "Can Jennifer please have ALL her recitals here!?"  Well?)  Ari sounded wonderful to my ears, and although it wasn't flawless, it was good practice for the auditions, and a good chance to tame some of the nerves.  Want to watch it?  Here it is.

 Today, I think I'll let Ari skip practicing.  Scott took her in for surgery to get tubes put in her ears early this morning.  We are lucky to have Mike Scheuller as a friend and ENT.  He scheduled her surgery practically the minute he heard what was going on.  As an added bonus, he is the best ENT there is, and he knows Ari really well.  Essentially, Ari has abnormally small Eustachian tubes that are never going to drain correctly.  This causes all kinds of problems; pain, pressure, infections, hearing loss.  And yet, this kid is a warrior.  I know her ears hurt all the time.  She mentions it, but she is one tough girl, and just keeps going.  The first time she got tubes, when she was almost four, the ears were so bad that she had already had some permanent hearing loss by the time we noticed it because Ari never complained.  I am just happy and relieved that the surgery is done, and that Ari now has a permanent solution to her ear problems.  Now, if she plays out of tune, she won't have an excuse!

Scott handed off the patient to me at the surgical center so he could go to court.  Post-op, Ari begged me to let her go back to school, but I needed her at home, resting.  Moms need people to take care of.  And schools don't need kids standing around drooling out of the corner of their mouth, an hour post-anesthesia, wondering aloud why "all dump trucks and stuff are yellow."  So Ari had to come home, get dressed and act presentable for all the Dance Company girls, who came for lunch.  I think she would agree that lunch with a couple dozen glamorous high school girls is a much better choice than school, at least for today.