A Little Boy Sang

We have been under a foot-deep blanket of snow for almost two weeks now. My patience and creative parenting skills are weakening with each additional snow day but I decided to focus on something positive rather than my ever-extending list of snow covered woes.


A dreamer, a grouch much like his mother
A voice, a talent unlike any other.
Unique to him, gifts given by God
But a solo? Really? This seemed odd.
He stood by the keys, in a room full of friend
Encouraged by his teacher to see it to the end
His voice sang out and amazement struck all
From his head to his cheeks the color of red falls.
A secret audition unknown to me
But the pride of his teacher let the news be free.
His God is smiling and I'm sure the bells rang
All because a little boy sang.

My son Trevor is like me in so many ways. He fears failure, heights and rejection. He's fun-loving, yet guards himself from others.
When I recieved the message from his music teacher that he had done an "amazing" solo audition for the upcoming spring concert, I was completely caught off guard. Not that he could sing, I knew that. I hear him singing in his room but I've stopped telling him how naturally inclined he is because he becomes embarassed and the music dies. However, after some thought I wasn't so surprised he hadn't told me about the big audition. I am practically frozen by the fear of failure. If I have a fantastic idea or a big dream, I keep it tucked closely inside until success is likely or guaranteed. Why I don't want those who love me there during the adventure, I'm not sure. I do know for sure that I don't want my son to mimic this fear. He is so open about his feelings, asking questions about the hard stuff but he hides his attempts from me...I want to be there for it all. The high prides, the fallen tears.
I spilled over him for his bravery, explaining I wish for a little bit of that as an adult. He took a step. A big one. He made others smile...I'd say that's success.