Rain: At least it's no longer snowing

No phone call yet. (I expected he'd be the type of guy who'd call when he said he would.) Perhaps I should have waited, but I instead chose to leave him a lovely (if slightly awkward) voicemail this evening. I'm not going to call him again unless I'm returning a call.

I did, however, receive a phone call from Twin (closest friend from home) this evening ... and she's engaged now! So my two closest friends are now both engaged! Somehow, I just don't see that anywhere in my near future. :-) (It's highly unlikely that CGFC is going to fall madly in love with me and decide that he can't live without me if we do indeed find time to hang out before we both leave this area.)
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After rehearsal this afternoon, two of the freshmen girls were freaking out because they thought their vocal juries were next week. (They later learned that they had been misinformed.) I spent about 2 hours with them, going through my books to pick out short, easy songs that they could learn within the week becaue neither of them had enough pieces to offer. I ended up spending a long time chatting with one of the girls. I can tell that she is one of the few who will make it through this rigorous program; her desire to teach students music just flows her in her speech. She spologized that she'd been rather long-winded during our chat, but I reassured her.

"Look, I'm going to be graduating in 3 weeks. You know what I'm going to remember? I'm not going to look back at an extra hour I spent practicing or doing homework. I want to remember the people I've met and good conversations I've enjoyed. This experience, this conversation is worth so much more than the schoolwork I could be doing right now."

Talking with her made me wish I'd had more of an opportunity to get to know this year's freshmen. Because I student taught last semester, most of them have no idea who I am. I'd have liked the opportunity to be a mentor to them, to tell them,

"Yes, if your heart is in this, it's worth it to keep trying. It's tough, and it's only going to get tougher. You can't even imagine. But .... it's so worth it. When you reach student teaching and you realize how prepared you are ... and when you rediscover the reason for why you chose this career in the first place ... it's worth it, all of it- the heartache (when you question your decision to go into this field), the frustration (when you struggle as you learn the secondary instruments~ I needed extra help from my professor because I could NOT produce a sound on the trombone, much less the mouthpiece alone, for the longest time!), the tears (when you feel like you'll never measure up to the expectations placed on you), the annoyance (when each of your nine 1-credit classes requires you to complete the workload of a 3-credit class even though you have to take 18 credits a semester to graduate in 4 years), the sleepless nights (when you're analyzing pieces for their educational value and write corresponding lesson plans or when you're trying to memorize 7 hours of music for the next day's listening exam). When, with your students, the music you create somehow becomes magical ~ it's worth it."
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I went to dinner with a friend this evening and ended up sitting with a very sweet Italian (slightly nerdy but adorable) exchange student. He was pleased when I spoke a phrase I used often on my Spring Break adventure: Non parlo italiano. Lovely conversation with him and with my other friend on the differences between the education systems in our respective countries. Afterwards, he and I went to the last half hour of a presentation put on by the international students on campus. Fun!

Then Bible Study ... I'm going to miss this group. I can't make it next week due to the conference, but I'll have to go to the last discussion in 2 weeks. I love our two discussion facilitators ~ one of them is one of my favorite figures on this campus. Afterwards, BestFriend and I bought lots of junk food and came up to my room to watch The Nanny (my favorite show; I have Seasons 1 & 2 on DVD).

Because I'm writing this after midnight, I can say that I officially graduate 3 weeks from today. Aack! Wayyyyy too much to do between now and then. And ... definitely time for bed. (I need to get back in the habit of going to bed at 11pm!)