Anticipation

My family and I have fallen into this routine of going nowhere outside of work, running chores or carrying out errands, but that doesn't make boredom any easier or avoid feelings of restlessness. Unlike most people we know, we have not traveled much in our lives as a family. I was planning to change some of that status quo this summer. I wanted to go on a couple of road trips before my daughter heads off to college in fall. That plan has gone nowhere, thanks to SARS-COV2. So, to fight off the listlessness we were feeling one weekend, I asked each of the kids to write about anticipating something in the future or their memory of anticipating something in the past.


Here are each of their offerings:

I have heard too many different versions of college life: extremely intense classes that have to be prepared for seemingly 24/7 without the comfort of sleep; easy, enjoyable classes that help develop passion and a wider outlook of the world. The chance to make so many new friends from all sorts of places. The chance to be overwhelmed by being one out of 8,000 freshmen. Roommates who become your best friends. Roommates who will become your worst enemies. Which of these features of college life will hold true for me? And of course COVID-19 will be a factor that will change my college life in so many new ways. I had been looking forward to making plenty of new friends and spending time with them in the dining halls and in my residence hall, which is the newest hall and has many amenities for people to study and hang out together. Now, even though the rules have been released, I am not sure how to picture what free evenings will be like. Whatever happens, good or bad, it will still be an experience, a memory, that I will look back on and be able to write about. Come what may, my freshman year will be special to me.

-- Lekha Durai, July 1, 2020

I’m really excited to work at Subway this summer. I start my first day of training tomorrow! I really wanted to get a job this summer. Coronavirus had cancelled literally every fun thing that was planned for this summer. I didn’t want to lie in bed all summer, doing nothing productive. So as soon as quarantine started, I began applying for jobs. I applied to Starbucks, Chipotle, Qdoba, Red Mango, Noodles & Company, Panera Bread, Jimmy John’s and Freshii. I heard back from none of them. Well actually, Chipotle and Qdoba emailed me back and said that they weren’t interested. Anyway, I was losing hope. I thought that there was no point in applying for more jobs because nobody would hire anyone with no job experience. A few days later, I was talking to one of my friends. She said that she was working at Subway this summer and told me to apply because they were still hiring. I thought that there was no harm in applying, but I was doubtful that I’d hear back from them. A few days later, I received a text from the manager at my local Subway. She asked me to come in for an interview! I was ecstatic. All of those hours I thought I had wasted applying for jobs had really paid off! I went to the interview and then to the orientation. I had gotten the job! Also, I’m also so grateful that the Subway I’m working at is a five minute walk from my house! So convenient. Even better, I found out yesterday that one of my friends is working there with me and another one of my friends is working at a different Subway in my town (you can cover shifts at different locations, so we can work together)! This job couldn’t be more perfect for me.

-- Divya Durai, June 23, 2020

It was a Saturday morning, yet the cold, bland air of the high school hallway made me shiver as I kept wetting the reed of my saxophone with my mouth. All the other students were loudly practicing their solos, but my nervousness distracted me. My dad kept looking around and at his watch, and I frantically walked around, holding my saxophone and looking at my music sheet. I was at Harrison High School in February, waiting to audition in ISMAA. ISMAA is a music contest in Indiana that we are required to participate in for school. Basically, we play a piece of music in front of a judge, and they give us feedback and a score. I played, “Largo and Allegro” which was in Group I, the hardest category. If you get a gold in Group I, you get to go to the state-level contest.

When the judge came back from her lunch break, she welcomed me inside the classroom used for judging. She seemed very warm and kind, not at all intimidating. I smiled when she invited me to warm up, and I practiced a couple of full-range scales. Then, when the judge had her papers organized and told me to start whenever I was ready, I took a deep, strong breath and started.

The piece started as a sad ballad, entered a dramatic part, and finished with the sad melody again. I decided that in order to get a good score, I had to be confident, and to be confident, I had to play with my heart without being conscious of every single note. So, even though some notes came out weak and some of my articulations were poor, I played the entire piece with my heart, and thus it probably sounded strong.

After I finished playing the piece, the judge took a few moments to finish grading me. Then, she looked up at me and said, “There are a few things you should keep in mind for when you go to state.” Even though my face was calm, my mind went ecstatic! “YES!,” I thought, “I got gold!!!” After she told me a few pieces of advice, I went with my dad to retrieve the gold medal, and then we went home.

The next Monday at band class, around 10 AM, my band teacher, Mr. Pettit, announced the names of those who got gold. When he got to my name, he said, “This is unicorn! Rahul was in Group I AND got a perfect score!” I was in disbelief. I had made some mistakes in my audition, so I couldn’t believe that I got a perfect! But when I looked at the grading sheet Mr. Pettit then gave me, I saw that it was true. The judge had gone easy on me, and had given me a perfect score of 9 (9 was the perfect score in ISMAA). Looking back, I think that it was not only the practice that helped me win this; it was my determination to enjoy the piece and truly play with my heart.

-- Rahul Durai, July 6, 2020