I am plum amazed at the sheer talent in such young adults. The jazz concert was awesome. My DS has been in it a long time and I get to see new faces every year. The amount of talent in these kids--whether music, art, academics, athletics, community service, everything--has me in awe of them and the future. Jazz music is a lot of improvisation--they make it up. Also, DS has friends who are awesome in their instrument, even getting PhDs, but they can't play jazz style. So, I am blown away at every kind of concert, knowing that there is so much in it that we don't realize. Some, like DS, can play different instruments and I've learned that most instruments are much harder than we realize because they make it look so easy. But I am particularly drawn to the jazz bands. They have such a good time with the music. It has been a real honor for my DS to have been picked to be a part of this program. And I have been truly blessed with being able to attend almost all of the performances. We got together with the kids in the family (both kids attend the same college for now and DIL teaches nearby) for dinner before we all went to the concert. It is a sobering moment to realize that DS will probably be several hours more away from us next year and these moments with them all telling us about themselves will be fewer. So I relished it all. I added a budget item to our budget, eating out with the kids. We used to go to so many different concerts with DS, but now it seems that at least once a month, we will be going to something with them all and I want to enjoy it and not worry about the money. So I am saving for one big meal a month with the kids wherever they all want to go. After the concert, we headed out so Hubby could get back to work. We had a couple of hours of driving to do. DS didn't catch on to the fact that we were not going to stay this time and eat dessert afterward. He called and was sweet, but sounded a little disapppointed we couldn't visit more. There have been lotsa times I have questioned my abilities to parent a child, but when your young adult WANTS to visit with you, your heart just melts.....