Decision 2014

 Ari had her audition for Jack Ashton's orchestras on Monday.  Here she is at Highland High, right before meeting Jack and playing for him.  (He is retired from the Utah Symphony, where he was principal second violin for EVER.)  I should have known, knowing Jack Ashton, that it would be very low key.  We walked into the room and there he was, just like I remember him from 1987, when I was in his orchestra that toured Europe.  Back then, he and his brother Ted were like fathers to all of us high school kids.  They took us to very special places, behind the Iron Curtain to Berlin, Weimar, Leipzig, Frieborg, and Prague.  We visited an LDS temple in East Germany that was there before the fall of the Iron Curtain.  Before religion was allowed into East Germany. (Here, read about it.  It's a neat story.)  It still gives me chills to think about the spirit there, to even think that those saints were able to practice Christianity in the DDR when so many were denied that right.  It was a miracle, and everyone there knew it.

My mom had an experience with our East German tour guide who looked at her and said, "You don't know what you have," referring to our freedom, perhaps, or more specifically to the happiness she felt we emanated, this little group of Americans Mormons.  It's true, we didn't know how lucky we were, but going to those places, seeing the contrast between East and West Berlin, for example, opened my eyes to how much freedom we really have.  It was such a powerful lesson that I still think all the time how fortunate I am that I can go anywhere I want.  I kept in touch for years with a boy whom we met in East Germany.  He was trapped.  He wanted out.  I wonder where he is now.  It was because of him and so many like him that I cheered when the Berlin Wall came down.  It's hard for younger people to understand how impossible that seemed back then.

So, back to the story, all those memories flooded back when I saw Jack, especially the strong spiritual experiences we had on that orchestra tour.  As Jack invited Ari into her audition, I really hoped she could at least make it into the bottom rung orchestra, so that she could just be part of the group!  There are four orchestras, and you have to be 12 to try out.  Meanwhile, kids were starting to filter in and set up for their rehearsal.  Ari came out with Jack and he had placed her in the intermediate orchestra, called Youth String Ensemble.  Yay!  And wow!  He had told Ari, probably with one of his signature chuckles, "You're a little younger than most of them, but you look their age."

 I was thrilled, and Ari was excited, too.  Really excited!

 We saw a rainbow over the Bountiful temple on the way home, but Ari couldn't get a good shot of it.  Isn't that synchronicity, given my thoughts on the Frieborg temple?

But the story continues...the next day was her Utah Youth Symphony audition, which we had scheduled even before the other one.

 It's the orchestra that I was in for 7 years, and I couldn't wait for Ari to be part of it.  But after the first audition, she was really excited about Youth String Ensemble.  Mr. Marsden told her it would be a good fit for her.  Also, Utah Youth is going to conflict with her ballet class next year, but I still wanted her to try out, just hoping that somehow the conflict would resolve.  We couldn't decide what to do.  Long story short, we were on our way to the audition when I got an email saying we should wait and try out for the more advanced orchestra that rehearses on Friday nights.  So we drove up into the foothills and did a little cello photo shoot instead.  It was so much fun!  And I love how the pictures turned out, with the perfect light.

And speaking of perfect light...this girl.  She is all fired up about Jack's orchestra, and I'm dreaming of the fun we'll have, driving to Highland High every Monday, Ari walking those waxed and buffed hallways, music folder in hand, dragging "Barbie," as Coco calls her case.  That is, unless Scott steals the gig from me.  He likes to drive the kids as much as I do!

I though our photo shoot was a peaceful ending to the tryout saga, one I can live with for now.  Utah Youth will have to wait, and I'm disappointed.  I don't think she is ready for their more advanced group, but I know she is ready for Youth String Ensemble.  So this stage mom will have to step back, trust her daughter's decision, and let Ari enjoy the glow of her triumph.