| "Love of beauty and the desire to create it is a primal | | | | the desire |
| instinct of man." Eleanor McMillan BrownThis weekend | | | | to master music of magnificent proportion.After |
| brought me the privilege of chaperoning forty | | | | all-day rehearsals, as well as sectional rehearsals with |
| musicians to the Catskill Mountains of New York for a | | | | master teachers brought in from New York City, the |
| youth | | | | group came |
| orchestra retreat. Designed as a scenic get-away in | | | | together and practiced one last time, late Saturday |
| which to | | | | night after |
| ardently rehearse for an upcoming concert, it proved | | | | dinner. As they were tuning, I walked around the room |
| an | | | | making sure everyone was comfortable and ready for |
| exhausting-but delightful-escape with | | | | one last practice session. I walked up to my |
| teens.Considering that I made the preliminary | | | | fifteen-year-old son and twelve-year-old daughter and |
| arrangements, and | | | | whispered in their ears, "Create Beauty." Fueled with |
| actually booked the accommodations at the retreat | | | | little sleep and bad camp food, neither were amused. |
| center, I | | | | But then the conductor raised his baton, the cute high |
| thought I had a fairly good idea of what to expect. | | | | school senior lifted her flute, and thus began the genius |
| When the | | | | of The Magic Flute. And then the oboist, a highschooler |
| retreat director described our cabins as "rustic," I | | | | I had never met before, with a bandana covering her |
| envisioned | | | | hair and too-many earrings covering her left ear, came |
| cute and cozy. Campy. Kind of with a Ralph Lauren | | | | in, followed by the clarinetist, to create extraordinary |
| meets L.L. Bean thing going on.She greatly oversold | | | | beauty. And I just sat there, with tears rolling down my |
| them. I had better luck in third-world | | | | cheeks, an uncontrollable reaction to witnessing |
| countries. While the kids rehearsed late that first night, I | | | | magnificence.It caught me quite off-guard that these |
| searched for the cabins in the middle of absolutely | | | | kids-dirty from too much |
| nowhere-pitch dark-with a couple of flashlights, a | | | | of the retreat experience and too little of the available |
| poor-to-scale hand-drawn map, and two very tired | | | | hot |
| orchestra moms as my only guides. We found these | | | | water and soap, and sleep-deprived from too much |
| tarp-roofed, | | | | sleeping-bag |
| -I-mention-no-locks-on-any-doors near midnight after a | | | | chatter-could produce something so |
| long three and a half hour drive and a very bad camp | | | | glorious.Sometimes kids surprise us. Sometimes, after |
| retreat dinner. We moms thought it would be a good | | | | we want to wring |
| idea to locate the cabins and get things "settled in." | | | | their necks for their appallingly irresponsible behavior |
| Mortified when we finally found them by the thought | | | | (losing |
| that these cabins were really "ours," we let out a | | | | their backpacks, forgetting their music, leaving their |
| half-hour litany of moans and groans, only to decide to | | | | dirty |
| make the best of the situation by trying to cozy them | | | | dishes for us to clear), they sit down and do the most |
| up. That literally meant | | | | astounding thing. They pick up and instrument and play |
| turning on the singular light and cranking up the space | | | | something |
| heater | | | | extraordinary. Or they write an essay and it changes |
| per each cabin.Then came the rain. It started as a | | | | our |
| sprinkle and turned into a | | | | worldview. Or they perform ballet with perfect timing. |
| constant stream, silently but surely soaking the | | | | And we |
| hundred-plus | | | | scratch our heads and think, "Could this possibly be |
| suitcases, sleeping-bags and pillows that had been | | | | my kid?!?"Because just when you're ready to throw in |
| dumped onto | | | | the towel, throw |
| the ground (no, dirt) by the camp help. So at nearly | | | | your hands up in quiet desperation, and pound your |
| midnight, in the cold downpour of the rain, we | | | | fists on the |
| schlepped forty kids' stuff | | | | table in a round of madness, your kids will do |
| into one of the cabins. It was pitch black, excepting | | | | something that |
| the two | | | | will convince you that they are filled with brilliance. That |
| puny flashlights and those five measly light | | | | they possess a hidden gift or an indescribable magic |
| bulbs.Suffice it to say that the first night was | | | | or a |
| character-building. | | | | hilarious gift of humor or a quick mind or a strong |
| I had eight twelve-year-old girls in my cabin. Giggly, | | | | shoulder or |
| wanting | | | | a gentle spirit.And you are so thrilled to have had |
| to chat well past "lights out," but with the cutest | | | | some small part of the |
| tank-top-pajama-bottoms combos I've ever seen, (and | | | | creation.Carolina Fernandez earned an M.B.A. and |
| more make-up than one could imagine for a weekend | | | | worked at IBM and as a stockbroker at Merrill Lynch |
| retreat in the middle of friggin'nowhere) I had the | | | | before coming home to work as a wife and mother of |
| distinct impression that it could be an interesting two | | | | four. She totally re-invented herself along the way. |
| days.And then came Saturday. And Mozart. Grieg and | | | | Strong convictions were born about the role of the |
| Bizet. Rehearsal | | | | arts in child development; ten years of homeschooling |
| after concentrated rehearsal brought teenager to his | | | | and raising four kids provide fertile soil for devising |
| instrument | | | | creative parenting strategies. These are played out in |
| and magic out of chaos. For somewhere beneath all | | | | ROCKET MOM! 7 Strategies To Blast You Into |
| of the acne | | | | Brilliance. It is widely available online, in bookstores or |
| cream and the eyeliner came focus and discipline and | | | | through 888-476-2493. |