Fit for a Queen

Anyone who knows me understands that a fanciful lifestyle is not my thing. But I admit, I have always wondered what it would be like to be royalty. This week I got a taste of what it might feel like. It started when my good friends, Lynn and Paul, hosted a classic Greek dinner party complete with spanakopita, organic feta salad, and an aged Greek wine which danced elegant circles on my lips and tongue. A few days later I was treated to a band concert starring my niece on alto sax. They performed complex warrior marches and savory holiday jazz melodies. When I realized that this was the 7^th grade band I was in disbelief. The talent of these students was inspiring. The very next evening I attended a Christmas party at the prestigious Golf Club where decadent treats were served, a choral quintet beckoned, and notable community members discussed clever politics. And as if these regal occasions weren’t enough, I woke up the next morning to the most majestic day of all. As a gift from my sister I was treated to an afternoon at the spa. Our senses were delighted with aromatherapy steam baths, relaxation massages, pedicures and facials. Then, in a daze, I came home to prepare for my evening at the symphony orchestra.

Dressed in my Sunday best, I sat entranced in my balcony seat, feasting on the sights and sounds of Minnesota’s most skilled musicians. During the orchestra presentation, guest musicians and dancers appeared from the Suzuki school of music and the local ballet company. Both of my children have started violin this year and my daughter will be performing in the Nutcracker this week. As I watched these children sing and dance and play their tiny violins, my energy started to shift. Although it had been a whirlwind week for me, getting a taste of palace life, suddenly I started to realize that my life really isn’t about me anymore – it is about them. The orchestra began to crescendo and my thoughts began to race. Those children, my children, are the future Hall of Famers and the first chair violins. They are the ones who will be delivering the keynote address on the importance of global citizenship in an ever-changing world. And the wake up call is that I have a responsibility to ensure that these young members of society are getting off on the right foot!! The music reached the climatic finish; the sounds vibrated off the theatre walls. Then for one moment all was still. My mind settled. And in that moment I thought about all the activities of the week, but what stood out the most were the seemingly uneventful ones: reading a chapter of Wind in the Willows to the kids each night before bed, writing ‘I love you’ in the snow with our footprints, making animal-shaped pancakes from scratch. And in that moment I calmly understood. The audience began to applaud wildly, the musicians made a final bow, the curtain closed.

The next morning my son woke me up by crawling into my bed like he does every morning. He was already smiling. We laid there and hugged and talked for a few minutes, then we decided to make pancakes for breakfast – the funny-looking ones. I turned on the cd player and cued up Della Grant. My daughter heard the music and joined us in the kitchen, her eyes sparkling. As we made the pancakes together, this seemingly uneventful activity, we listened to the sweet words of Miss Della Grant penetrating through, “We are the mothers of creation ‘cause we build the nation…”

….and so it goes.