Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Milestones

Have you ever just had a moment where you all of a sudden feel very grown-up? And then you wonder when and how that happened?

Today was one of those days. Somewhere midst the buckling and unbuckling of children in the backseat and running errands today, I made it to The Music Rack, our local music store, to browse through fun Christmas sheet music and see if the choir music I ordered had come in yet. I had my 11-month-old on my left hip while herding my 3-year-old with my right arm around the narrow aisles of the rooms in the cute old house-converted-to-store, followed by smiles and knowing and understanding glances from kindly employees and other customers. My kids are, after all, very adorable and hard to resist... most of the time. After several attempts getting Anna to leave the fun music pencils and piano-shaped pencil sharpeners down, looking through the fun Sesame Street Christmas songbook at all of the muppets, taking care to not knock over displays of sheet music in our path, we made our way to the checkout counter to pick up the choir piece for the ward choir which, happily, arrived earlier than expected and in time for this Sunday's choir rehearsal.

There must have been something about carrying the paper bag with the 30 copies of the "Peace, Peace" Christmas song out to the car that just had a wave flow over me causing me to feel all grown-up. You see, I grew up watching my mother herd small children around stores, often Bert Murdock or Summerhays music stores. I would stand next to her at the counter while she purchased 30+ copies of some beautiful choir music for the choir to learn and sing in Sacrament Meeting. Mom has been a ward choir accompanist and/or director for as long as I can remember, so she has spent countless hours and browsing sessions in the music store. I am now the choir accompanist in our new ward we moved into this year, and I find myself smiling thinking how I am following Mom's footsteps. And that's why I felt so grown-up tonight, loading up my 2 little ones after toting them through the store, with choir music in hand. A little thing, but kind of a nice milestone to make me feel like I am really finally doing this adult thing. As if moving out and going to college, getting married, having 2 children, and moving halfway across the country weren't enough to help me feel like an adult. All it took was buying music for the ward choir.

6 comments:

Sarah@The Best Stuff said...

How funny...I have those "wow, I'm really an adult, when did that happen!" feelings occasionally too. :) And I am also the ward choir accompanist...just newly called 2 weeks ago. I'm sure you are much better at it than I am!

Katy said...

:D I know what you mean. It hits every once in a while. I usually try not to think about it though because it's overwhelming to be an adult. I'm glad you're brave enough to embrace it.

And, you brought back fun memories of Bert Murdock. :D

The Scherbel Family said...

What a sweet moment fo ryou to realize you are following the good example of your mother. This was beautifully written! Congrats on finally growing up. ;)

Melissa@thebblog said...

What a nice moment. I feel very sentimental myself now.

Steph said...

That's so neat that you grew up loving music just like your mom. I don't know when the real adultness of life will hit me, but I do wonder sometimes how I got to this point of being married and having a grown up job and my own apartment. Wasn't I just in 7th grade? Your kids are very adorable and I'm sure that to them you are the greatest mommy-adult in the world!

aubrie said...

Isn't it funny how it's the small things that make you feel grown up much more than the big things sometimes? I totally understand what you mean. When I got my very first business card I felt much more like an adult than I did when I bought a house, got married, or graduated from college. Being an adult is strange, but I'm glad you're excelling at it! :)