Exit, stage left!

So, yesterday I get the following e-mail from one of my more promising 8th graders:

Dear Mr. *MAESTRO*
I hope your summer is going great. I am very sorry to tell you that I will not be attending *MY SCHOOL* in the 07-08 school year. I will be moving in with my Aunt. (in Connecticut) I made this decisoin because since i've been in California i have found most people to be detatched, materialistic, and uncultured. I miss the values of CT. But I just wanted to let you know its been a plearsure having you as a teacher. And that I think you are nothing like what I just described the "Californian" to be. Thank you for a great year of band. And thank you for showing me great music. Have a great summer.

I was a little shocked and certainly sad to get this e-mail, but at the same time I let out a laugh (loud enough for my wife to ask "What's so funny?" from the kitchen.) Here's a kid just out of 8th grade... moved here from the East Coast, decides California is too shallow for him, and goes back....just like that.

I sent back a response thanking him for two years of goods music making. I told him that much of what we did in band was greatly facilitated by his input. What I left out was the part where I asked him if I could go with him.

It's like cancer

I'm not sure if I commented on this yet or not... but in a way, Palpatine has been good for my marriage. Maybe it's God's way of telling me not to be a workaholic. And friends, had things continued on the blissful trail to Utopia that I was so merrily traversing before Palpatine's arrival... well, I don't know how much wy wife would have tolerated it. Lots of late nights, week-ends, and time otherwise dedicated to home and spouse were being more and more diverted to career. Now, I'm looking for ways of maintaining happiness outside of the workplace, and home and marriage are certainly the first and obvious place to turn.

I've also been becoming more aware about how much I fit into the typical American man who defines himself primarily bvy his career. So what happens when the career is gone? You get rising statistics in post-retirement depression and suicide. I'd rather that not be me.

It is also important to note that my wife is also currently unhappy with her job. Thus, both of us return from a hard days work, anticipating an environment of comfort and support. Fortunately, we have been mutually enthusiastic about trying to provide that for each other. Perhaps its because when I'm taking over cooking responsibilities for the evening, I'm not only providing reflief for my work-weary spouse, I'm distracting myself from my own demons in a way that is much more effective than drowning myself in the television or on the computer.

This situation also set the stage for our vacation a few weeks ago, which we both embarked upon with the express intent of forgetting about our woes for a while. In all honesty, it was the best vacation we've ever taken together.

But before I get too appreciative of the serendipitous effect of the Imperial presence in my life, I will refer to the cancer patients who point out that the benefits of their experience include a profound clarity with which they reorganized their life priorities. As good as that may be, I'm sure they'd still rather not have cancer.

Even in paradise....

...I have to deal with less than desirable students and parents. So I'm traveling in Europe with a youth orchestra. Along for the ride is a set of girls who have very littlle in the way of self-control, and their mother who seems to be the obvious cause. The girls have been problematic since the beginning of the 2006-2007 school year, although I have had almost no contact with them (they were in a group that I don't conduct). This family is about as dysfunctional as it gets, with he divorce parents having restrition orders against each other, etc.

The girls have been difficult to say in the least... but the real problem is that the mom tries to dump the kids off on staff or other parents whenever possible and go off and do her own thing. She even told us she was thinking of going off to Amsterdam and leaving her kids here with us.

That didn't happen.

I don't know that I've seen a parent so disturbingly devoid of any kind of sense of responsibility for their own kid. Fortunately, it isn't ruining the trip, but it is making ourlives a little interesting.