Success is all in how you look at it.

I'm sitting in my living room at 1:00 a.m. My oldest son is at an after prom party. Even with all of the craziness of our ND spring, parties and special events still take place. We had our State 'A' Vocal Festival yesterday. I brought 29 students to Minot for the day. They really grew between regional and state. 28 of the students will receive a medallion at our music appreciation banquet in May. We'll give out 52 of them. Wow! I am so happy for them. They know they did a great job and that means more than what anyone else could say. It was good to see that Valley City was able to pull it together enough for the students to participate. I think we all view success differently. Some use the stars as the end goal, some say state is the reward for success. I really always just want forward progress in the 'right' direction. It's all in how you look at it. Sometimes success is observing a student celebration in the form of spontaneous song on a school bus. Truly the Cathedral Choir experienced their own form of success when the sang for the Triduum. They were wonderful.

Who decides when you have success? We went to the gala event for Sister Thomas Welder last night. Now there is a success story. She is a beautiful woman with a heart of gold. Sister has touched so many lives. How can a woman be so strong, yet serve so many? 1400 people turned up to honor this humble leader. Thanks God, for the opportunity to have been within the reach of a true servant leader.

I have 9 big events left before relaxing into summer. Grandparents Mass, Art & Song, Cinco de Mayo w/ Voices+, Blues performance at Saint Anne, Music Appreciation Banquet, 2 graduations with choirs, Pentecost and Solemnity of the Body & Blood of Christ, and diocesan ordination of three young Catholic men. In the back of my mind I am preparing for teaching at IMC, getting the 80th Messiah performance ready, and planning the activities involved in touring to NYC with the HS Choir. I'm sure I've left things out, but they say the brain can only handle 7 things at a time. Oh, I remember another one, recording soloists for the NCACDA. Success to me? Finding JOY in each day. That's true success. Joy is found in friends and family, in making progress - not perfection, and enjoying God's gift of beauty. This picture is of the volcanos surrounding Lake Atitlan, Guatemala. Truly a place where you can see beauty and believe it or not... JOY.