The Transforming Power of Music

We went to Noel Night in Detroit last night. It's always a good time, except that Cayla had her crabby pants on and Collin, who fell asleep in the car, was sleepwalking through everything. Cayla really wanted to go to the library, but after getting there we decided to walk out since not much was going on. She had different ideas and through whines and grumps and squeeks and screams finally communicated to us that she wanted to go on the library computers.

Sidenote to libraries everyone . . . .Why oh why are the kids' sections full of computers?!?! My kids think that libraries are all about computers, not books. Which would almost be fine if Cayla could actually play a game for 10 minutes without banging on the keyboard and crumpling up the mouse in frustration. We always leave with plenty of books, that I pick out and they read at home, but the computers are their focus. However, this is another post for another day; even though I think I've just about covered it:)

Anyway . . . we finally convinced Cayla that on Noel Night, the library didn't have any computers on, just puppet shows and handbell choirs, and Santa Claus. Luckily she didn't spot any before we whisked her out of there. So, we continued on, dragging the kids here and there; a little Korean dance, a little food, etc. and decided to head home. On our way to the car, we passed by the Detroit Historical Museum and the kids were mesmerized by a hand bell concert outside it playing Christmas Carols. Those crabby pants started to fall off as Cayla swayed and danced to the music. Collin declared he was no longer tired and we decided to stop in the museum for a bit. It's a pretty cool place and Cayla loves museums, but she was still on edge. We zoomed from room to room looking at spinning globes, very large dragsters, and a "real" car assembly line. And, then we wandered downstairs to the 'Streets of Detroit' exhibit. It's a neat place - they're recreated a 19th century street scene complete with stores, places for horses to drink, and wooden streets. And, then, transformation . . .

The YMCA Deep River Choir began to sing and those crabby pants came flying off! The above You*Tube video is the only one I could find, but they didn't sing that song. It was all holiday stuff and it filled our souls. We sat down and listened. We swayed and clapped and sang. Music has the power to transform and did it ever transform Cayla last night.

We planned to go after they were done singing. We had hit bedtime. But, happy pants Cayla had other ideas. She wanted to stay at the museum. So we wandered around a bit more until we came to an exit. Cayla continued to have other ideas, bypassed the exit, and led us up to an old antique car we had passed by earlier. One kid cranks it up to start the engine and as the noisy engine soundtrack comes on the other kid pretends to drive. She waited patiently in the line and took her cranking and driving turns happy as a clam.

So, all's well, ends well. Thank you YMCA Deep River Choir! But, it's a bit bittersweet. It's times like these that I realize how incredibly hard life is for our little girl. She spends so much of her life in her 'crabby pants'. She wears her emotions on her shoulder. If she's a little tired, or hungry, or hot, or cold, or stressed out, she's one unhappy bug. Little disappointments turn into big, huge ones. And her inability to communicate her wants (computers in the library, playing on the antique car) build up inside her until the only option is a meltdown. But, then the singing set it all right. So, that's what I need to take away from it all. Peace.