Thank You Mr. Perkins

When we lived in Utah, we had the BEST swimming teacher and the best situation for swimming lessons that I possibly could have asked for. David Perkins is such a kind, easygoing and encouraging coach and was so good for my kids. 

To illustrate, I want to give two examples.

After he had been working with us for quite a while and had time to get to know each child, their strengths and apprehensions, he asked me if Michael happened to have been born premature.  This caught me totally off guard because it was so out of the blue and I had never hinted anything about our history of premature deliveries to him ever before. The conversation that ensued involved my filling him in on our roster of premature babies and Mr. Perkins making a correlation between lack of confidence in the water and premature delivery. The two children who gestated (for lack of a better word) long enough to avoid the NICU also happen to be my most fearless and capable swimmers. I was pretty blown away by the fact that Mr. Perkins was able to tell, and probably could have picked which ones had been in the NICU without my having to tell him. 

When my sister Angie and her husband Jeff took a trip to Ireland last year, we got their kids for a whole week and it was SO much fun. They also have 5 children, who correspond beautifully in age and gender to ours, giving everyone well-matched playmates....but that's a post for another day. We had sole responsibility for these 5 kids for a week, and we decided to take them to swimming lessons with us. I texted Mr. Perkins ahead of time and he rolled out the red carpet for our guests. He arranged for deeply discounted admission to the pool and spent extra time (he was always very generous with his time) to involve our cousins in the lessons. 

Because the weeks leading up to our move were so crazy, we did not get to say a proper goodbye OR a proper thank you. As we've been getting settled into our new home on the other side of the country, every now and then I have noticed our swimming bag full of towels and suits sitting all lonely-like in the corner and I have this reminder of the fact that we left without saying thank you. 

So, in case you feel like this video is a little over-the-top, just know that it has been on my mind for several months, and I want Mr. Perkins to know how deeply grateful I am to him for what he has taught my kids. I get a little teary knowing that we walked away from the ideal swimming lessons situation and will probably never have anything so perfect like this ever again. But I hope that maybe sometimes when we visit, we can arrange a token lesson or two, and be able to see Mr. Perkins again.

Peter's Piano Recital

Peter gave his solo recital in July, only 2 weeks before we moved. Peter and I were both so pleased with how the recital turned out, as the final performance was WAY beyond any of the dress rehearsals that he did in the days leading up. Probably the biggest reason for this dramatic difference was that he agreed at the last minute to give a verbal introduction to each piece he played. When his teacher, Dr. Beus performs, he always offers interesting tidbits for the audience; what to listen for, some history about the piece or the composer, even things that he loves about the music. When Dr. Beus asked Peter if he wanted to introduce each piece, without hesitation Peter said "no."
Later, as Peter was typing up the program, he asked if he could overlay the sketch of himself that his cousin, Kendall, had drawn. Without hesitation, I said, "no."
Then we struck a deal and both relented.
So here's the program:

Peter's introductions were very spontaneous and provided interesting tidbits for the audience in addition to making everyone laugh. This helped him loosen up A LOT. To the point where, as he performed, this was the look on his face: "I just made everybody laugh....I'm so awesome." A welcome antithesis to the alternative; "I'm so nervous, I hope I don't mess up."

I didn't get footage of everything, sadly. But below, I have re-created the recital to the best of my ability.  For all the introductions I didn't get on video, a sub-par rendition of the intro is printed above each segment. Hope you enjoy Peter's solo piano recital!

Valse Russe by Frank Bridge
      featuring Cynthia Jensen, violin and Peter Jensen, cello

Nocturne in e minor by Chopin

Intro: It is funny that I am playing this piece, because I actually swore off Chopin. I played one Chopin piece, and I really hated it, and I thought all Chopin music was like that, so I swore I would never play Chopin again. But, my mom didn't agree with that, so she tricked me into playing another Chopin piece, which was this one. She played the Secret Garden movie for my siblings and I, and this is pretty much the only music in that. I really liked that, and I agreed to play it before I even knew it was a Chopin piece. After all, if it was a Chopin piece, it couldn't have been so pretty, could it?

Of Foreign Lands and People by Schumann

(This is a just a fragment that my friend Kristy got on her phone since I was too busy fiddling with the tripod to get this one)

Intro: Everyone associates this next piece with the kid movie, Milo and Otis. The piece is very nostalgic, and so is Milo and Otis, so yeah... once I was at a masterclass, and when another pianist played this piece, one of the comments that was said was that it reminded them of Milo and Otis.

Invention no. 4 in d minor by J.S. Bach

Rage over a Lost Penny (Rondo alla ingharese quasi un capriccio)

by Beethoven

Romance by Sibelius

Intro: Whenever I am about to play this piece for my teacher, he asks where Sibelius was from, because he was from Finland, and that is where my piano teacher, Dr. Beus, served his mission. Actually, you'll notice that my dad is very supportive of Chopin, because Chopin was from Poland, where my dad served his mission, and Chopin loved Poland so much that he kept a cup of polish dirt when he went to other countries (I think). [Weston, at this point: "Go Chopin!" ]



Wedding Day at Troldhaugen by Grieg 

Surprise Encore: Carol of the Bells
Peter whipped out this encore at the end, which came as a complete surprise to me. Though, he was probably scheming about it for a while.

That's all, folks. 

 UPDATE:  We haven't found a new teacher for Peter yet, but to be honest, we really haven't tried.  Peter was recently called as the new accompanist for our church choir. We are both content with this for now, because it means he will have to polish several pieces and learn an entirely new skill set; rehearsing with a choir. Since he's in school full time and the amount of time he is willing to commit to practicing is so limited, and since we can't possibly truly replace our old teacher, having Peter learn these new skills is a a stretch that is about perfect for now.