“Hi, Dad,” I said.
“Cadence.”He pulled me into a hug.For a moment, it was just him, me, and my childhood memories of who we used to be together.I was living for these moments, this familiarity.
“Ready to try to keep up with these little rappers?”I asked as I pulled away.
He chuckled.“They’ll have to keep up with me.”
“You aren’t as young as you used to be.You even have some grey hair.”
“Hey now, I look good.”
“Uh huh.”Laughing, I went over and unlocked the door.Everyone poured inside.
“Cadence!”Marian came over.She was one of the volunteers here who was always eager to help and have fun.She was full of energy every time I saw her.Considering she was studying to become an elementary school teacher, it made sense.And it was clear she loved children.Last time I was here, she was playing jump rope with a bunch of kids, teaching them some fancy moves I’d never be able to pull off in my lifetime.“Here, these are the final signups and the order they’ll go on stage.”
“Oh, this is perfect, thank you,” I said.
“Feel free to adjust it to better fit the show, just give me the final changes.”
“Yeah, I’ll have this back to you before I leave.The rehearsal will make it easier for me to get a feel of what’s going on.”
“Great.And again, thank you so much for doing this.We truly love having you volunteer and the kids love having a place to explore music.”
Her compliment made me all warm and fuzzy.
She smiled and then got distracted with two girls holding a kickball.
I quickly looked over the list, happy to see so many signups and creativity in what people wanted to do.
“Okay, okay,” I said, walking to the front of the room.
All the kids quieted down instantly.It still felt weird to be acting like a teacher, but it wasn’t a bad feeling either.Dad was over by the piano, with a guitar by him too, just sitting and tracing the piano keys lightly with his fingers.He had no intention to do anything but the accompaniment.He was a great teacher, but he was also respecting that this was my space and something I wanted to do.
“Marian just gave me the final list, so first, let’s figure out who’s here.”I called out the names.Thankfully, everyone was present.
Once we verified that each person matched their assigned role, we got to work.The energy was a mix of excitement and nerves, but it was inspiring to watch them push through, determined to give their best performance.
The songs were upbeat and adorable.Many of them were holiday songs, others just fun.
When Cal performed, he did such an amazing job.And as I promised, I played with him on the piano while he worked on the guitar.He made mistakes and just rolled with it as he sang, grinning wide the entire time as he sang.
He was having fun, and from the expression on Paxon’s face, it was going to be a memory they were going to look back on for a long time.At one point, I was pretty sure Paxon had his phone on and was recording him.
Once we finished running through everyone’s songs, I wrapped it up but stuck around so kids could keep practicing and asking questions.
“You’re an amazing teacher,” Dad said, coming over.
“I feel a bit like a fraud,” I admitted.
He chuckled.“I felt like that when I taught you.Imposter syndrome.”
I raised an eyebrow, not expecting that.“Really?”
“I’m by far not a teacher.If you asked me to teach someone one plus one equals two, I wouldn’t know where to begin.”He shrugged.“But I love music and you clearly do too.When you were little, I wanted to let you explore music how you wanted so I did what needed to be done.Taught you what I could and you picked it up so easily.I’d think I’d have enough materials to teach you for the next month, but then you proved me wrong, mastering it in a week.I tried to rely on lesson plans and you just kept breezing through them.You live and breathe music.I feel it every time you sing, every time you touch an instrument.It’s always been a part of you, and I didn’t want you to lose that.And now look at you.Doing the same thing with all these kids.You are an amazing woman, Cadence.And I’m sad to say I wasn’t a part of the reason why you are.”
I clenched my teeth, struggling to hold myself together as Dad spoke.He was about to make me cry and that wasn’t fair.Not here.
“You’re right in that you can’t take credit for how I turned out,” I said.
