Ready as I'll ever be

I've done the last runs to the grocery store, done all 20 of my nails, got my fake hair ready, made a list of things I need to pack last minute; I can't believe it's finally here!

Tuesday, I'll be leaving with the choir to the biggest music convention/festival in the world.  And I'm not exaggerating with the "in the world" part.  I think I've talked about this convention here before but if you didn't know, every year the Texas Music Educators Association (TMEA) convention committee chooses 2 high school honor choirs in a blind audition and does the same for college choirs.  They're known for picking amazing choirs- people come from all over to hear those concerts, crowds of 3,000+ people!  Up until this year, no college choir from anywhere south of San Antonio had been chosen to perform.

When our director told us this past summer that we'd been asked to be one of the college honor choirs, I was amazed, excited and scared out of my pants.  I've been going to theses conventions since before I could walk or talk, tagging along with my dad as he's a member of TMEA.  This will probably be my 18th or so time going, more than any other member of the choir, possibly more than one of the assistant directors.  Weird, right?

This TMEA experience will be different than any other year.  I won't be in the audience; I'll be performing.  It gives me goose bumps to think about all the years I was in the audience and wanted to be part of a choir or band, to know what it would be like to perform for so many people, to know what was going through their head.  Now I'll know.  Sometimes I just want to cry, knowing how hard works pays off in big ways, how things happen for a reason and how God works in mysterious ways.  It sounds almost dumb to be so thankful to be part of an honor group, but I am.  It's always been one of my "silent" goals as I never even knew it'd been a goal, myself.

Our city's even taking notice.  At our pre-TMEA concert this past Friday, we had a huge turn-out.  Even with the weather being even more wacky than usual (ice and in the 20s...VERY rare for us), there were 300-400 people in the audience.  Plus, we were in the local newspaper(s)!

Here's a link, if you haven't seen it on FB/Twitter yet.

Wish us luck!!  This is a once-in-a-lifetime moment!

Keren