The Recital

I love being a Mommy. My children make me so proud I want to burst! In Yiddish this is called naches, as in, "May your children bring you much naches!" And mine do. My son had a music recital yesterday, and I can say, as a strictly unbiased bystander, that he was wonderful! He played his piano music with confidence, his recorder couldn't have been more melodious, and the kid has rhythm! Of course, he gets it from me.

We were quite the picture, too. I came in five minutes late dragging three kids, a diaper bag, a video camera, and my overstuffed purse behind me. My son quickly got into place, my waiting parents and exasperated husband took the girls, and I got the camera out with 15 minutes of film left and a terminal battery. Once again, I failed parenting 101. But with enough creative editing to make Fellini proud, I got the important bits, and the film and battery did a beautifully synchronized pas de deux toward the end. And as the camera sympathetically blinked off, I nearly cursed my poor planning. But then I glanced at my girls, and I caught the sight of my baby with her big green eyes open wide in amazement at the magical sounds coming from her big brother's hands.

These are the moments that no camera can truly capture. No words can adequately bring to life the look of love and awe that I was lucky enough to witness, all because of bad planning and a well-meaning video camera.