Sitting patiently.

I don't particularly consider any of my children to be patient. I don't really possess that characteristic. I thought I did, but my dear husband informed me that I was mistaken. It's hard to pass on or teach the things which we lack.

This past week there were a few events in which we had to sit. Patiently.

On Tuesday evening we got to attend the school district's choir and orchestra concert. In the past Clay has played the viola and was in the advanced orchestra. He traded in his viola several months ago in favor of the gifted and talented math program (they met at the same time during the school day) and was therefore just a singer this year. I missed watching him play the strings, but alas, his first love is math! There he is, super cute, on the front row.

Because this was at the high school and wrestling practice at the high school, Taylor came straight in after practice and got to sit, patiently, through the concert.

Saturday evening, my dear friend's oldest son had his Eagle court of honor at our church. We took all of our boys. Our less-than-eager oldest scouter, our super-excited-to-be-an-eagle-by-thirteen newbie boy scout, our almost brand new cub scout and our fourth child. They loved it. Loved checking out Collin's merit badges. Loved seeing him get his fancy new eagle gear. Loved the banana split treats. But it involved an hour (plus) of patient sitting.

Sunday morning. Three hours of church and lots of sitting!

By Sunday afternoon, Taylor's patience was wearing thin. We got to attend Clay's concert for the Durango Children's Chorale at another local church at 2:30. They were joined by a concert choir from western Texas and they were all really fantastic. I have a feeling I've just seen Clay's final choir performance. He felt coerced into it in the first place by his piano teacher who is also the director for this choir and really hasn't enjoyed it. But I always tell him not to hide his talents under a bushel. He doesn't care.

This concert was an hour and we knew better than to take Sam to sit anywhere for one more hour, so Zach stayed home with him. We also know better than to leave Taylor home with Zach in the middle of the day. Taylor has his own set of rules and doesn't really enjoy Zach being the boss. And so Taylor came along. But he'd sat enough...

At 3:25, Taylor leaned over and said, "Is this what it means when they say 'it's been a long day'?"