Personal Projects

 

Here is Sarah Friday afternoon presenting her "personal statement" at school. She played her violin, gave a lecture on Paganini and his violin the "cannone" which now lives in a vault located in the "Municipo di Genoa" or City Hall. Her violin teacher is one of only a few who has privilege to play it, so once a year Sarah gets to gaze upon the priceless violin. I digress...

Getting back to Friday evening and prom night and my little personal project, Sarah. 

Povera Sarah, Friday, she just couldn't get a break. 

• In the morning she went to the station - all the trains were late...We drove in, and she was still late for school. 
  
• After school, she had to present her personal project first so she could leave for Orchestra practice. Her teachers were late... She was an hour late for orchestrata.... 
  
• To add insult, traffic was snarled on the streets surrouonding the tiny church where the young orchestra was practicing, she had to take a bus to meet me when she was done... 
  
• I took her to the hairdresser to fix her up for the prom. They made her wait an hour...

And so the day went...

At the end of the evening - which rewarded her day's struggles by being perfectly magical - she got out of the taxi, took a step to the door - and the contents of her tiny clutch spilled out into the road, including, my nearly new digital camera. 

Sunday morning, all excited to see the photos, we plugged the camera to my laptop and tried to download the files. On the camera screen there was no menu to select from, only a white fuzz with jagged black lines. The screen was cracked! Thankfully, the photos moved from the camera to the laptop, but, the camera was rendered useless. Sarah apoligized over and over again. I felt bad and what can you say? Lending children your precious things always comes with a risk.

What did my plucky little girl do? She went out for a walk that afternoon - in the rain - and bought me a new camera with her OWN money. Money she earned doing translations and diligently saved with the intention that Sarah would buy herself a new digital SLR camera this summer. When presented with my "gift" I could have cried.  The broken camera was already written off and any disappointment no longer lingered - I mean, things happen. I was standing there in the hall stuck in an awkward moment. As a parent, I looked at her little face, so full of pride that she had made a wrong - right. I had to pause to collect my thoughts and respond as to not hurt her, but I knew in my heart, there was no way that I could accept that camera. Then it hit me, I knew exactly why my dad, every time I buy him a gift, says, "ah you don't have go and do that, I don't need anything". I get it now. I understand why parents never feel comfortable with "bought" gifts from their kids.  

Will I keep the camera? Yes. How could I not? Making Sarah take it back would only break her heart. Am I going to give Sarah back her money? You betcha!