How Maestro Got His Groove Back

Once upon a time, just before the turn of the century, Mr. Maestro was a still young and up-and-coming music teacher. He had just taken the job at Old Republic High School after a soul-draining four year stretch at CowTown High School. He was a little unsure of himself, and hadn't yet discovered his true potential.

The community at ORHS took him in and made him feel wanted and special. Then, he met a man who would go on to be his friend and mentor for the next three years - and exemplary musician and conductor who would help Mr. Maestro realize that he could be more than a bungling idiot on the podium. The man was focused, and seemed to have boundless energy. He not only taught Mr. Maestro how to be a better conductor, he served as a role model that would help Mr. Maestro organize his efforts with a determination that bordered on obsession. For the first time in his life, Mr. Maestro took pride in his classroom, and kept it clean and efficient. His filing cabinet was up-to-date, his inbox was cleaned out almost hourly, and his turn-around time for parent communication was half of what the school required. Maestro felt good about himself. He was well-liked by his students and his colleagues, and he felt lucky to have a job that he loved.

Eventually Maestro parted ways with his friend and mentor. Though they fell out of touch, Maestro always remembered his time with his teacher fondly, and he gave homage to him often. However, eventually the Maestro became somewhat complacent at Old Republic High School. He stopped working as hard as he had before, and he started to let things pile up in his classroom. But what did it matter? - He had already proven himself as a quality musician and teacher.

Then one day a new principal came to Old Republic High School. She came with the promise of doing great things, and taking the school and it's community to new heights - the Maestro was very excited. Soon, however, he realized that the principal had her own agenda - one that used the teachers and students to further her own career ambitions. She began transforming the once thriving campus that was Old Republic in to the cold, efficient machine that would be Empire High School for the next four years. She made many attempts to bend the Maestro to her will, but he resisted.

Although she never managed to break his spirit, she did succeed in siphoning off a good deal of his morale - to the point where he no longer felt enthusiastic about working at Empire High, and began looking for other employment options. He stopped working late, stopped keeping his classroom clean, and let his voicemail go days, and even weeks unchecked.

Eventually, he began to doubt his own abilities - just like he did at CowTown High School. But after some soul searching he realized that he loved Empire High School, and would not leave her for the sake of escaping a tyrannical principal. He put faith in the idea that she would someday leave Empire High, and that peace would come again to the galaxy.

Eventually his faith was rewarded.

The tyrant principal did indeed make her way to other 'greener' pastures (of course, every other pasture is greener when you've burnt the one you're standing in to a cinder.) And the Maestro found his new principal to be much kinder and more supportive. But after a year, the Maestro felt that he was still running at half speed. He wasn't sure if it was residual trauma left over from his former principle, or if he had simply been removed from the influence of his friend and mentor for too long. Furthermore, the addition of Maestro Jr. to his life caused a shifting of priorities - one that made him winder if he would ever be the same teacher again.

Then he did some soul-searching over the Summer and came to the conclusion that in order to be a whole person, he had to be the best musician, the best teacher, the best husband and the best father he could be. A gap in any of these areas would diminish his spirit -as it already had.
The problem was - he wasn't sure that he could pull all of that off. He started slowly - just rewriting his syllabus. The next thing he knew he was back to alphabetizing the books on his bookshelf, and organizing the action figures on his desk by height. Once again, he found himself clearing out his voice mail hourly, rather than weekly (monthly at his lowest point)... and found it difficult to leave his office before tidying his desk.

This time, something was different - The Maestro sensed the grand pattern beneath the fabric of his life. He began to understand that there was no happy-ever-after, only happy-until-the-next-challenge. At the same time, he took comfort in the fact that like the good times, the bad times don't last forever... and thus, emerging like Persephone at Winter's thaw, he set about celebrating his happiness, but preparing himself for the day when the leaves would fall again.