Great kids in a great town
Yesterday, the Harbor Spring High School and Middle School bands performed the 18th Annual Holiday Collage Concert. They were FANTASTIC! For those of you who are not here in the winter, while you may have sun, you are really missing out on this concert. They played songs to celebrate Chanukah and Christmas.
They are just so good.
I honestly cannot wrap my head around how these kids play so well at such a young age. The jazz band this year features a trumpet section I cannot say enough good things about (yes, my daughter plays trumpet-she on the right in the video). The rhythm section is awesome. And I am truly amazed at fourteen-year-olds who can stand up and improvise solos in front of an audience. It goes beyond musical skill and understanding. It shows confidence and creativity.
For a handful of Seniors, it was their last Holiday Collage Concert. Together they played "I'll Be Home for Christmas." I know we all wish them well and hope they always make it back home to Harbor as they carve their own path in the years ahead.
The concert was a much-needed reminder of why we are trying so hard to move Harbor Springs forward.
How do we continue to make Harbor Springs a great place to grow up? A place to learn, grow and play. A place that some will be able return to and raise their own kids. A place more can call home.
Folks with children have an important voice that, because of demands on their time, often goes unheard. Parenting comes in lots of different forms-some traditional, others built on love, care and necessity.
Right now, there are only a handful of us with school-aged kids that serve on Boards and Commissions. It is hard to keep up and get to all the meetings when you are running around trying to get everyone to school activities. It is a challenge for all of us to volunteer for one more thing.
Finding ways to involve the parents and care-givers of our young people is something I would suggest we need to work on if we are going to continue to expand the voices around our community table. It is important to take a second and see who is missing and actively find ways to make it easier to join.
I once had a friend who advised that raising kids is 90% logistics. I would add that it is at least 50% waiting around for something to begin or end. But listening to last night's concert, you can hear what a difference the dedication and perseverance of parent figures, of all kinds, make in our community.
This time of year, two of the world's great religions celebrate a time of waiting and perseverance.
For those celebrating Christmas, it is a time when we wait for the arrival of two, poor, brand-new parents with no idea of how the child in their arms will change the world.
For the Jewish faith, Chanukah, translates from the Hebrew word meaning "dedication." It is a celebration of a light that lasted eight days when it should have only lasted one. It is a commemoration of the perseverance of a people whose path has been far from easy.
We have much to be grateful for here in our little town by the water-including our own dedication and perseverance.
If you missed it, please take a second to listen to a tiny bit of the Harbor Springs High School jazz band. Cheers to our talented kids swinging us into the holidays (and reminding us what it is all about!) Take care of each other and enjoy!