My friends at work.

When you go to a school like a performing arts school or culinary or anything where you can show your skills off in the limelight, you are bound to be in a position at some point to see your friends at work.

We always TALK about work but that's different. Because you get the opinion commentary with it. I hear that a lot in my primary job. My colleagues are ever surprised to hear me deal with a difficult customer and have them wildly happy or at least calm at the end of the conversation, yet I hang up the phone and have a stream of expletives on that individual.

So I had the double opportunity last night to go to a concert for my Linnie girl, the daughter of good close friends of mine. She sang beautifully and has frightening stage presence. She will go far that young lady will. She has grown into a lovely young woman.

Her teachers in middle school and High school are friends of mine. Her high school teacher could be my sister except that we have the same name, spelled the same and the same birthday. I met her through her mom who sings in my church choir. Her husband is a really warm great guy and they are neat people. She and I have the same interests, we both sing, she has sung with the same groups that I sing with. She has two kids. Her son is my buddy. He is a ham on the stage. I sing with him a lot. He's 8 and what a talented kid.

So they left me a free ticket at the door, R&B saved me a seat with the family ( 2 rows worth, Linnie has her own personal fan club!) and I watched some of the most talented teenagers that Syosset has to offer perform. I was impressed. They put on a great show. It was clear they worked hard. Watching my friends organize, play in pit and conduct was a hoot. They are dynamite! I was duly impressed to watch her conduct the concert choir in a tune from Fame. It was unreal. In tune, well done, dynamically accurate and they were having FUN. They are some awesome teachers and are well loved by their students.

I am always in awe of my friends when I see them in their professional garb. I have another friend who is now a doctorate in Music. It came as no surprise to me to see that. He is a professor and director of a few choirs/choruses. I have seen the pictures and I am going to try to make it to a performance since he is local to me.

BernieRA is another one. He is probably the only one that I know that regardless of what he is doing with his professional life, I can picture him doing it. And well. He's got integrity that I don't find every day in this profession we have all chosen. He's has it when he performs ( with that gorgeous voice of his), when he teaches, anything. He is a model of integrity for me.

I would be remiss if I didn't include 2 well loved favorite teachers, my mom and Am. My mom is currently teaching kids who are kids of the first class she ever taught in this district. It's kind of a hoot for her. But all their parents remember her fondly and how fun she is and how much they learn from her. No matter what direction the world has gone, my mom has a new and fresh way to teach these kids in their own language. She is always abreast of the latest in her field and how to include that in her lessons. My mom likes all the classics including the backstreet boys, Santana and Josh Grobin. Its a hoot to see her CD collection.

Am has a lot of musical theater under belt as she does at least one per year with her school. Some years ( like this one ) two. She teaches advanced music theory and of course choirs/ chorus. her kids LOVE her, as anyone who see's her myspace can attest to. I have never seen her teach but I know that it would be a riot to watch! She is another one who is creative and likes anything that is NOT in the mainstream both for personal and professional.

Not to be outdone, we have Maple Mama who so diligently works to provide cultural arts to the fine residents of Vermont. And she does this with style and flare. Just like she did in college. She was good at giving tours, creating experiences ( some not to be mentioned here), organizing events and handling large groups of people. I think that this is her special gift and talent and it thrills me to no end each time I hear about some event that she put together or some kind of mishap that she smoothed over ( and there is ALWAYS a mishap!). She does a fantastic job with this. Before this gig, she did a fabulous job with the Teddy bear man and I have the bear to prove it. She really helped that business grow to the corporate world it has grown to. She is a true asset to any organization.

So last night was a neat surprise for me in an other wise sad day. On a side note and a topic for a separate post, we lost a dear friend and member of our family to pancreatic cancer yesterday.