Courage and Friendship

"Courage is not the absence of fear. It’s about being scared and doing it anyway. For you cannot have courage without fear." -unknown
Courage and Friendship on Great Display At The Cole Elementary Talent Show
My eldest son, whom I write about here on Lyrics and Love often, was gearing up to perform at his school talent show on May 18th. He was practicing for weeks to perform his very first Carter Garrett original. I say he was practicing for weeks, but he has had this planned for months. The night comes and he takes the stage as student number 14. I think my own heart is going to pound out of my chest, and I am pretty sure butterflies where living in my stomach. I knew how hard he had worked, and I really was proud of him before he even stepped a foot on stage. I also knew how hard he is on himself. Halfway through the first verse I hear his sweet little voice crack, and he just can’t hold back the nerves. Time seemed to go into slow motion. I saw him close his little eyes in an attempt to compose himself, but the lights, the audience, the perfectionist within was just too much. The tears flooded his face. My heart was crushed for him. I wanted so much to rescue my sweet boy. It’s hard to witness your child experiencing life’s tough moments. His Dad finally walks to the stage and helps him exit, and we have a little family meeting away from the crowd. It was heartbreaking watching him still wringing his little 9 year old hands and crying into our shoulders. Stephen and I did our best to encourage him, but honestly we were failing. I was throwing up silent prayers of comfort and peace over his little heart, but neither of us really knew what to do. Then something tender and sweet began to happen. His principle, peers and teachers start rallying around him speaking words of encouragements over him and patting him on the back whispering, "you can do it Carter, give it another try”. His Cole family was backing him up. They were giving my son something so much more beautiful than the spot light. They were giving him love. They were giving him a second chance. They were giving him just the little push of courage he needed. So, the second time around Carter walked to the stage picked up his guitar stepped up to the microphone followed on stage by four of his classmates(who knew every word to his song), and they dedicated Carter's original song “I Wonder” to his 4th grade teacher. Without a hitch, the song was complete. The crowd cheered and clapped. The happy ending was ours tonight. Friendship and courage had taken center stage at Cole Elementary’s talent show! And the Mommy tears flowed freely and sweetly and my heart was happy! 

Cole Elementary 4th Grade Chorus

The 4th Grade Cole Eagles Chorus Team

I have voiced, on several occasions, how proud I am of the Davidson County Elementary School that our children attend and this past Saturday was no exception. My husband and I tagged along to chaperon the Cole Elementary Chorus team on a field trip to Beech Bend Amusement park’s 3rd Annual Band and Choral Festival in Bowling Green, KY. The Cole Chorus Eagles performed two songs when they took the stage at 2:20pm on May 12th under the direction of instructor Mr. William Laarz. Mr. Laarz has been teaching music at Cole Elementary for eleven years. As the students began to sing you could see and hear just how special this group of talented 4th graders is. The children held their own, while sporting happy, all smiles stage presence and genuinely looked to be enjoying themselves. There were no shrilling mistakes and the children achieved harmonies and melodies above expectations bringing home a superior scoring trophy. However the surprises where not over for the day as the Cole Chorus also brought home the 1st place trophy for their elementary division. Both of their musical pieces out scored the other schools in their division, and even most schools in the other divisons! Congratulations Cole Chorus Eagles! Your performance and behavior for the day was exceptional. Also, congratulations Mr. Laarz! Without your direction and belief in these students, they could not have achieved such great accomplishments for the school and themselves. Well done team! Well done!!!


Hope you enjoy this little clip of the teams warm up number.