Slice Of Adventure: Concerts: Then and Now

He was up when the rest of the family was still in bed. He came into the room and I grouchily murmured, "Why are you up so early?" It was a Saturday and I wanted to sleep in a little longer. It was unlike E to be cheery and chirpy in the morning. In fact, he usually has to be dragged out of bed with much protesting and always attempts to negotiate for five more minutes of laze in bed time. He happily announced, "It's the day of my concert. I need to be there early!"

Okay, I got you but can you just leave me alone for five minutes! Looks like sleeping patterns run in the family.

Baby C woke up as soon as E came into the room. She's the bright spark in the morning, hardly grouchy when she wakes (unless she's unwell). She greets us with a big smile. By this point, everyone is wide awake except ... the Hubby. He has slept through thunderstorms and ear-splitting cries of uncooperative babies in the night. This slight disturbance early in the morning is obviously nothing to him.

The kids to the rescue. They bounced on the bed and used their daddy as an obstacle to be scaled. Climbed over him, sat on top of him ... Baby C has this habit of literally peeling your eyelids open when she wants you to wake up. You can't be sleeping when she's awake. She's bossy that way. With all that ruckus, it's much safer to be awake lest you get mauled. And as usual, it's a mad rush out of the house.

E wanted to be sure that we'll be there to watch his performance. He said that he didn't see us at his concert last year. We were there but we were seated at the back so he couldn't see us. This time, we were seated at the second row and waved enthusiastically when he was on stage so he won't miss us.

This sensitive side of him is often overshadowed by his boisterous personality where he appears to be nonchalant about stuff. It's easy to forget that deep inside, he's a sensitive boy who needs lots of affirmation and is someone who actually loves plenty of physical affection (his primary love language is touch).

I think I'm supposed to feel emotional on a day like this. After all, it's his graduation concert. Well, it's a bit challenging to get into the mood when I have a two year old who suddenly decides that she misses her brother and whines whenever she can't see him on stage. Then there is the grabbing of the camera and the wielding of it like she's some sort of pro. I had to wrest the camera from her grasp and attempted to take some decent shots without losing my cool.

It was only when I was back home and looking through the photos from his past concerts that I felt the passage of time. I remembered the emotions when I saw E at his very first concert. The pride at seeing my spunky little three year old on stage. That flashback made my six year old seem all the more grown up.

Since I didn't have a blog during E's early years, let me do some reminiscing here.