The Sporchestra...

Flying in to Denver last night was one of the most anxious hours and a half that I have had in a LONG time. I felt a little bad for the people on either side to me **Insert Ode to the Middle Seat here** but I couldn't keep my concentration on any one thing for very long. I started by arranging some music for horn quartet, then worked on the book of my blogs from the past summer, then read some music history, then listened to itunes, then played games on my ipod, then listened to my ipod, then started at the beginning of this list again. As soon as the pilot announced that we were getting in early and that we were preparing for landing already, I threw everything into my bag, grabbed my phone (still off, don't worry) and looked out the window for the first time since leaving Phoenix.

Boy, was I not prepared for all the lights.

Now I know that Denver looks like any big city, with lights sprawling out as far as you can see, but looking out at the glow of what to me were the most perfect Christmas lights you could ever imagine, my stomach started turning in knots and my eyes started tearing up. Nowhere has ever felt so much like home and that it was the exact place where I should be.

Before too long, the wheels of the plane begin to go down, and as soon as we touched the ground and I could feel the plane was in fact slowing down, my phone was out and I was texting Kristin. The snow dusting the runway just added to the magic and I don't think it's just because of what time of year it is. After waiting for what seemed like another hour to get off the plane, ride the train to the baggage claim, and take the escalator up, I finally saw Kristin waiting for me and we grabbed my suitcase (I cut it down from 60 to 50 lbs) and headed to the car.

In Greeley, I saw her house, met some friends, and then met others at a few bars downtown, one of which we got to watch some live jazz that I really dug! We headed back to her house and hung out with her brother and the friends from the bars for a little while before heading downstairs for the night.

Saturday morning we woke up and got ready to head to Loveland to carol with the sporchestra. This group is a special community orchestra, whose members have down syndrome, autism, or other special needs. Kristin's brother and their friend Katie help to teach this group weekly in Loveland, and this was just a gathering of whoever could make it to play the instruments while some of us (Kristin, Katie, Amy (the one who is taking over with Tom since Katie is student teaching in Philadelphia), and I) sang. All of their stringed instruments have each string tuned to open G, and they all play along while Tom and Justin (on keyboard) played the different carols.

This experience alone could have totally made my trip.

Tiffany, Taylor, Judy, and Andy all soloed at some point whether it was dancing or playing, and I almost busted into tears each time. The fact that music can touch each of these people so much completely astounds me. I haven't really ever told many people, but when I first went to college, I wanted to be a special ed music teacher. You can't really major in this, so I went with Music Ed instead. After this experience this weekend, I know I want to try and start something similar in Flagstaff. With Mrs. Stamer, we will be teaching completely special ed classes, but I'm wondering what the logistics would be of starting a group similar to this one. Tom owns all the string instruments they used here (he's a violin music ed major) so I don't know how I could do that, but this is definitely a possibility for when I get home...