Piano Debut

Mackenzie has been practicing this song every day for weeks now. She knows it by heart. Today I made her play it again and again and again. Every time she played it, she made a mistake. The good thing was the mistakes didn't upset her. She played through them every time. She wasn't nervous or upset at all.

This is not a trait she gets from me. From the time I was her age, if not earlier, I was a perfectionist to a fault. I simply could not let myself fail. I could never accept less than perfect. It made me crazy. The older I've gotten the more I see that this is a ridiculous standard to uphold.

It made me so proud to watch her practice - to know that somehow I have not passed this weakness onto her. It's not that she doesn't want to do her best, because she absolutely does. It's that she doesn't let mistakes get her down. She doesn't make herself mad trying to be perfect.

Tonight, at her recital she walked up to the piano, sat down and played her piece without any hesitation or nervousness. She played it without any music to follow. And, she played it without one, single mistake.

Great job Mackenzie!