Piano Recital

So I opened my FB last night and saw that I had an email from Robbie.  I opened it up and it said "J. (piano teacher) wants me to be in a piano recital June 12th."  I went out to the kitchen and hugged him and marked the day on the calendar.  It is huge for Rob to put himself out there with anything like that.  He is deep down so afraid of failure that he is often paralysed into inaction. 

For instance, he is really a gifted athlete. Can hammer baseballs 1/2 way across the field that we hang out at.  But he would worry so much about whether a ball was a good one to hit that he struck out all.the.time. when he was in Little League.  Finally his coach hollered "just swing at anything" and I think he got a home run that night.

I am reasonably sure that back in December Rob had been asked to be in a holiday concert by his teacher and had declined.  We met someone from the music school during our city's Holiday stroll who spoke like Rob and her son were performing the following day. Rob looked blank and I just let it ride.  I am not about pushing him with his music. I want him to explore it and to hopefully have an outlet for emotional expression and that seems to be working. So I am excited that he is willing to stretch his wings.  And June 12th, me and the tribe, my mom and her new beau will be cheering on Rob as he plays a selection by his fave group "The Fray."