Audition Vacation

One of the many great things about taking auditions is getting to stay with friends and family and live their lives for a few days.  For this audition/recital, I'm staying with some friends of mine that I met in Madison during my doctorate.  We were all always a bit busy and so there was very little casual hanging out beyond the projects in which we were engaged.  But now I find myself in their home, with their two sons who are 34 and 10 months old and new since I last knew them, living a life in a beautiful home in Provo, Utah.  It's refreshing to witness and take part in the challenges and joys of taking care of two boys of this age, and it's refreshing to have the companionship of their parents who are as interesting and engaging as I had gleaned them to be from our interactions in Madison.  I can almost forget I have the obligation of playing an audition in a few days and a recital in a week.  Eating crackers, reading Winnie the Pooh, having conversations about this time in life and what it means to be a musician.  A good audition vacation, indeed.