Falling hard hurts....or does it?

James is one of those kids that doesn't have to try very hard to succeed. He never cracks open his school books at home and he still gets straight A's. He is a wonderful piano player, and when he started clarinet, he didn't struggle at all. He picked up the instrument and played beautifully. He taught his self how to play notes that he didn't know far before his teacher did. He's in 7th grade and for the first half of the year he played in first chair. Needless to say, we are extremely proud of him.

 We have warned him many times, that he needs to not take things for granted, and that even though he is good, doesn't mean that he will always keep his place, especially if he didn't practice seriously. So, when he forgot he had a placement test in band and still got a 49/50 he was happy, which led to an even bigger head. He was 2nd chair, but no biggie, he would challenge and get 1st chair back. Except for one tiny problem. 5th chair wanted his spot. (They can only challenge 3 chairs a head of where they are.) The night before the challenge, James was "practicing" his clarinet. By doing this I mean he was chasing Jake around the house playing random notes as loud and as obnoxiously as possible. When we warned him to take it seriously, he told us not to worry because he knew the song that he needed to play. The next day at school, he totally screwed up, and not only didn't get the 1st chair position back, but blew his challenge and was moved back to the 5th chair position. Talk about hard blow!! He was devastated. But he decided he'd challenge for 2nd chair again, no harm done right? What he didn't realize is that they had a concert coming up and the teacher doesn't allow challenges within a few weeks of a concert. So last night was an experience for James that I hope he never forgets. Playing 5th chair in a concert, when just a month and a half ago he was 1st was a hard thing for him. But he did it with dignity, and learned a lesson that maybe everything in life isn't as easy as he thought it was. Falling hard hurts, but in life when we fall, we can pick ourselves back up and learn the lessons needed to continue to grow. In a way, it was good for him to fail a little. It taught him a lesson that he very much needed.

James playing 1st chair at the winter concert.