Well, it was an interesting day. In an effort to make up for a bad start I made phone calls to a plumber and a drywall guy. The drywall guy came over and gave me a bid on the ceiling hole. I thought it was kind of a high bid but he's available to do it tomorrow so I went for it. I just want to get this show on the road. The plumber didn't call back.

I picked up my daughter from school thinking that she would have found her "talk" with the vice principle just as demoralizing as I did. She didn't. For that I am grateful! In fact, all she could do was tell me how much she loves her teachers and how great this school is. Go figure. Her only complaint was that she's has to sit on the back row in band. She's used to being 'first, second, or third flute' but is now competing against all the upperclassmen for placement.

She'd been complaining that her flute sounds wheezy so we made a quick trip to the music shop and had it checked out. In my old home town this would have taken all day! The nearest flute repair place was two or more hours away! They have a place right downtown here. We got there in ten minutes. Convenience to stuff like that is one of the things I LIKE about living here!

Happily, there was nothing wrong with the flute. A very knowledgeable person gave her valuable pointers on how to adjust her instrument and how to focus her breath. It made all the difference! Enthused, she came home and found further instruction on Youtube. What a wonderful age we live in!

We stopped at a grocery store on our way home. Instead of going inside right away we had a really good mother daughter talk in the car. It wasn't one of those 'corrective' talks. She talked about college concerns and career hopes and dreams. I encouraged her dreams and assured her that it is entirely possible to blend practicality with passion in choosing her life path. One does not necessarily cancel out the other.

She feels like she's going to be less of a success in life if she does not get into a "good college". I told her not to worry about it. Find something that fits, I told her. Unless you're on a fast track to become a CEO or District Attorney or something, nobody's really going to care all that much what college you went to. What matters is that you find joy, meaning, and purpose in what you do.

I wanted to shore her up, to shield her, to protect her from any notion that if she doesn't do such and such, she'll have missed the boat and failed at the game of life. And while I'm at it, I'll be shoring myself up as well.