Dani hopped into her Dad's car. She was excited. For many weeks, and months, she had worked hard doing chores around the house and yard, minor errands, as well as baby-sitting her twin 18-month-old brothers, Dell and Den for short bursts of time - no more than an hour at a time - to earn money for her first Drum Lessons! Which of course was today - she was going to it now.
She managed to contain her excitement long enough to listen to what her parents were telling her. They were very proud of her for taking of her money so well, and sincerely hoped that she would continue to do so. They also asked that she behave well at these Drum Lessons - not that they needed to. They believed that she would behave well and so she would definitely do her best.
They also mentioned that if she did well at these lessons, worked hard, and especially, if she liked them -then maybe for Christmas or for her birthday at some point, they might meet her half-way on a full-set of Drums.
With her heart racing at full speed, she leapt from the car, the moment they pulled up. Her mom called a warning and she called back an apology. She barely remembered the signing in and coordinating or waiting. However, when they called her back, she took a moment to breathe deeply and restore her calmness.
She listened carefully to everything the instructor had to say. It was more difficult that she had ever thought it would be. Evidently there was more to playing drums than banging drumsticks on a drum. First, there were more than just a single type of drum of course, and more 'percussion' instruments to learn besides. There was posture for both sitting and standing positions and how to hold the sticks and 'how to actually play' all the instruments and so forth.
Finally, there was the actual playing - with which they started very basically - quarter-notes and eighth notes on the snare drum. Unfortunately after that they had no more time in the first lesson, and somehow, after all that, she was exhausted.
While she waited for her parents to come pick her up, she noticed the other kids groaning and complaining to each other and their parents that the lesson had been boring and they wanted a new teacher or not to have any more lessons at all.
One girl came up to Dani and just started complaining, "Aww, man. Can you believe that teacher? So boring, can't teach anything interesting. I'm not coming back, are you?" She waited for Dani to join her in her complaining.
"Nah. I think I will come back. Today might have been basic, but you have crawl before you walk, right?" The girl stared at Dani a moment, before walking away mumbling "Weirdo."
Dani rolled her eyes, then saw the teacher watching her, with a curious expression on his face, then he walked away. During the next while, she saw the other kids' parents get the reports on their kids lessons - which usually went a little something like this; "Your child has some talent and potential, if they work hard."
Finally Mom and Dad came to pick Dani up. The instructor came over to Dani's parents to give the report on Dani, with the largest grin on his face that Dani had ever seen. "Dani definitely has a lot of potential and talent, and I can see that she is a hard worker and that she understands the meaning of hard work, and why certain things are the way they are. I can tell that she will go very far if indeed if she wishes to, and I would love to work with her on that journey!"
Mom and Dad were indeed pleased. "So Dani," Mom asked, "Do you want to continue with your Drum Lessons?" Dani grinned brightly. "Definitely!"