Sunrise!

Today I taught my very first ever MYC (Music for Young Children) class! I'm only teaching the very first level called Sunrise, which is a prekeyboard program for children ages 2-4. I was a bit nervous, but things worked out pretty well. I have four students in my class, and they are all so sweet, and their parents seem pretty helpful and 'into it' as well. The past few days I have been feeling a bit sad about starting this though-because I'm an MYC graduate, and my mom generally was the one who took me to MY MYC classes from ages 4-8. It's kind of a bittersweet moment that I wasn't able to tell her about my first teaching experience. I hope to finish my level one training in June or July so that I can begin to actually teach piano-including Sunshine, which is the program I started in. I have so many good memories of MYC as a student-now I'm getting good memories of MYC as a teacher.

It would have been nice to be able to teach all level one classes-Sunrise, Sunshine 1, Sunbeams 1 and Moonbeams 1 this year, but I couldn't ask for three whole days off from my job at the daycare-half a day was more than enough-and, right now, I don't have the space to have, say, six keyboards and a piano. My dad and I are going to have to finish some of the basement for that to work. I do want that though, and I also want to look into Suzuki flute training-but that's something to talk with my former flute teacher about (she's the only Suzuki flute teacher in my city). I really like working with little kids, and seeing the excitement today-especially when we were singing "Can you jump up high with me" to the tune of London Bridge (of course with actions!) was just great.

Yes, I do feel sadness at times, but at the same time, I think I'm trying to ignore it or push it away, like how I latch onto other people's issues and try to help with that (though, I guess that is kind of my natural tendency). There is so much I miss about my mom. All the time, I think of things I'd like to tell her, like I would love to tell her about my Sunrise class. I'd love to have her around to watch me sew together the first vest that I knit-I may have sewn together almost 200 pairs of mittens, but I've never actually made a true garment. I really miss the way she made meals, even though both me and my dad are pretty good cooks. Sometimes though, there are a few things that I go, it's a good thing she's not around to see-like the disaster of both the basement and the computer room! Mostly, things just feel strange, like this isn't really real yet.