Big Disappointment in the Big Apple

As I’ve mentioned before, this school year has been a rolling list of disappointments for Nathan. One of those has been the fact that the choir tour destination was New York and the men’s choir (the only choir option for sophomore men) is not invited to participate. Sophomore women get to go, just not the men. New York has been at the top of Nathan’s bucket list for years so this was a low blow to him.

In January one of the normal hired accompanists became unable to go on tour for health reasons. The choir teacher, recently having discovered Nathan’s stellar piano and sight-reading skills, extended to him the opportunity to go on tour as an accompanist. Nathan was thrilled, of course. At last! Something positive for the school year!

Nathan got home from tour today, and honestly, it was just another huge disappointment for him. The choir teacher was the chaperone for his group and because of his way of handling things, Nathan didn’t get to do or see hardly anything. He went to the Statue of Liberty and didn’t even get to see the statue from the front, just the side. He spent about two seconds on the observation deck at the base and that was it. He didn’t get to go to Ellis Island at all. There was no sightseeing, no Empire State Building, no Metropolitan Museum of Art, no Natural History Museum, no even any shopping for souvenirs. He did get to see one Broadway show but because the chaperone (he swapped chaperone groups for this one) got lost and refused to use google maps to help find their way, he was late for that and didn’t get to buy his show shirt. He didn't even get to eat hardly any local cuisine. His group only wanted to eat at the familiar chain restaurants. (Apparently the New York Chick-fil-a tastes exactly like the Utah Chick-fil-a.) The only exception to that was a dinner at a real Italian restaurant, run buy Italians where the kids were yelled at in Italian...so the real deal.

There were really only a few highlights in his week. First of all, he got to play a Steinway in an amazing cathedral. At the choir competition held in the cathedral, there were awards given to groups and five awards given to individual students-three vocalists and two accompanists. Nathan, the only sophomore man on tour and a last-minute accompanist, received one of those awards! He was completely shocked and so excited. It was a happy moment for me as well because not only am I an enormously proud mom, but it was a high point for his trip and something good to take away from a trip that was overwhelmingly disappointing. Another positive event of his week was getting to walk the Brooklyn Bridge. He really enjoyed that excursion.

After a week in New York, all he came home with were a few posters purchased from a street vendor at the Brooklyn Bridge, one amazing award, a few pencils and pins, and a snow globe. We’re going to let him get online and order his show shirt and any other souvenirs he wants, but it’s just not the same and I know it. And both Kevin and I wish we were rolling in money so we could book a flight right now and take him back to do New York the right way.