I did something this week that I don’t get to do very often – I went along to a junior school musical. Well, if I’m honest, I don’t CHOOSE to do it very often – the few similar “extravaganzas” I have attended in the past have had very little “extrava” or “ganza”…
But this one was different. It helped that we had a close connection – five-year-old Oliver and his family are good friends – but I also think that my love/hate relationship with kids might be thawing. I have always liked kids, but in small doses, which has prompted me on occasion to use the well-known quip: “I love kids…but I couldn’t eat a whole one.” Something about their constant activity and incessant questioning has always tested my patience – I’ve just never had time to slow down and see things at their level.
So I’m not exactly sure what the precipitants of the thaw have been. Possibly age – and certainly the addition of two delightful nieces to our clan. I imagine God’s grace has had something to do with it too – (“more tolerance” is one of my most frequent requests.) But the result was that I can honestly say I was looking forward to this extravaganza.
Happy chaos – the lost bottle-caps dance
What we got treated to was 75 minutes of happy chaos that was The Lost Thing. The simple storyline provided a fitting vehicle for regular musical montages that ensured every kid got their chance to dance, sing, or simply stand there looking for mum – which Oliver (who otherwise played his part of a bottle-cap lost at the beach with aplomb) did for the first thirty seconds of his debut. At times there were up to sixty kids on stage, joined at times by skateboards, scooters and an array of other over-sized, papier-mâché Lost Things.
The choreography was impressive – with that much going on, it’s a wonder that lives weren’t lost! But they weren’t – it ended well. All the lost things found their places. All the waving five-year-olds found their mothers. And I found that junior school musicals are not things to be endured with a grimace.
If you haven’t been to one in a while, make sure you do. In fact, hanging out more with kids anytime is a marvelous way to see the world in simpler, slower terms…
