When I wrote my four part piece about Matthew, I made a point to say how bright and amazing he is. He is funny and sarcastic and good at whatever he wants to be good at. He dabbles in different interests and while he excels at every one of them, he casts them aside as soon as he grows bored. It’s really quite intriguing to watch the boy find his passion.
He played the stand up bass a couple years ago. One day music bored him to tears (And let me say that both sides of his family are filled with music lovers and enthusiasts, so I was shocked) and the next he came home wanting to play in the orchestra.
“Can I be in the orchestra?” Matt asked while I rushed through dinner prep one evening.
“Absolutely! What do you want to play?”
“The stand up bass.”
Of course that’s what he wanted to play. I drove a focus at the time, and I soon discovered that while I could fit the bass in my car with some maneuvering, I could not fit my children with it. We made it work though. And I payed $70 a month for it to sit and collect dust, because it was a pain in the ass for him to get out. Regardless of his failure to practice, he was as good as, if not better than his peers. I sat in on his concerts and a couple practices, and while he enjoyed playing, he didn’t enjoy it enough to keep at it. So we abandoned the bass.
It has been the same with many other things. Cross country and soccer, LEAP (his gifted education class which he hated but I forced him to stick with), the list goes on.
Most recently he has joined an after school writing class. You know I’m overjoyed. He brought home his standardized test scores and big surprise, he scored above average in everything. He is currently taking advanced reading, language arts and math, and boasting all A’s.
This evening he brought home his art folder since the quarter long class has ended. And guess what? The little hooligan has some artistic abilities, too. 12 years of amazingness, and I still can be pleasantly surprised by him. He never ceases to amaze me.
Wherever life my take my Matthew B., it’s sure to be interesting.
So, This is Real Life 