Here she is... My little Macy Grace with the new love of her life... her guitar. We've struggled for months with these guitar lessons... never wanting to practice, frustrated that she's not improving... so much so that I finally said, "Macy, if you're not going to practice, mommy's going to have to stop paying for lessons." And she was actually fine with that. But then Wade, her guitar teacher, let her use his guitar at her lesson and she sounded so much better! I couldn't believe it. He told me that she really needed another guitar... hers is basically a toy & it just won't stay in tune.
I was trying to wait til Christmas for the brand new guitar, but after I heard the difference in how she sounded on his guitar I couldn't wait to buy her the new one. So I surprised her one day after school... gave her the guitar she wanted and I was amazed at the turn around. She's practicing every night! We're leaving her guitar & amp in the den and every night she plays all of the Christmas songs she's learning. I'm so proud of her, and it's so great to see her excited about her progress. I'm a sucker for that kind of stuff.... working hard and feeling that enormous sense of accomplishment that naturally comes from that effort.
And Madison, well, she's had her own struggles lately. A couple of weeks ago, she starting checking out of school with very strange symptoms.... stomach aches, nausea, lightheadedness, shaky arms & legs. It always seemed to happen during tests, but that was weird to me too because she's my child who never seems to care whether she makes a 100 or a 60. And then she started talking about camp and how she may not want to go. At Ogletree, the 4th graders go every year to a 3 day 4H camp and it was coming up in a couple of weeks. So then I started putting two & two together and realizing that this might all be some kind of anxiety about camp.
So between me, the teacher, the nurse and even the principal, we have all been worried and as patient as we could be with all the drama of the unexplained illnesses, which by the way, the doctor could find nothing wrong after running every test he could think of. And then the day came for camp. I've been telling her that if she would just go, she would love it. I've always thought Madison needed to go to camp... I think it would help her believe in herself more and stop relying on me so much -- it would help build her confidence in herself. So we sent her off with lots of hugs & kisses & well wishes (and a lot of cell phone numbers for from the teachers and parents who would be there with her), and she actually went. I guess I kept expecting a phone call telling me to come get her, but it never came. She did great! I can't tell you how proud of am of that little girl. She loved it. Here she is packing her new suitcase (it's a miracle that we fit all that stuff in that one little bag!).
And here she is getting off the bus coming home. She was so tired, but it was so good to see her!
