Now Evan has had other moments in his life he's gotten to practice that disappointment he learned last year. But...NEVER in my life did I think he was going to have to experience the EXACT same disappointment in the EXACT same way on that EXACT same Talent Show stage.
Evan and his friend Hudson were in the Talent Show together this year. They were performing Ghostbusters. They had been practicing for weeks and had it all down for their big performance down to their matching Ghostbusters outfits and proton packs. They were adorable.
They were the 14th act in the Talent Show. THREE other acts had used the drums before them. We knew they worked. We knew they were coming through the sound system. The extremely nice sound guy was confident which drums were being played. I had ZERO worries about this year.
Until Evan started playing and we couldn't hear him.
Y'all, I can't even explain the next 60 seconds. Evan sat up there hitting those drums as hard as he could. He knew they weren't on. He knew he wasn't being heard.
I was, again, working the music in the sound booth. I had on a headset that let me talk to the Jessica Abell and Tracy Forbes back stage. I immediately turned on my headset and said, "Y'all. This CANNOT be happening again. This CANNOT be happening again!!! How is this happening again???"
Just like last year, they went into go mode. Tracy went to work trying to figure out how we were going to stop the performance so we could fix the problem, and Jessica tried her hardest to calm me down on the headset. They both finally convince me to turn off the music in the middle of the song. Actually, I told them no a couple times because I was afraid it would totally throw them off or mess them up or (sadly) worried about how the other parents would feel if they got more 'time' on the stage than other acts.
But this ENTIRE time, Evan kept playing. He kept going. He never stopped.
But when Allison stepped on stage, I knew I had to cut the music. Poor Hudson didn't know why we stopped early. He just kinda stood there with his hands up and looked at Mrs. Betchick. Evan, though, new exactly why they stopped. Allison announced that we were having a technical difficulty and if anyone was there last year, this happened year to Evan and we were not going to have that happen again, to which Evan stood up and yelled out to over 500 people, "They are not even on!!!"
So all my friends went into momma bear mode. Tracy, Jessica, Allison, Courtney, Stephanie all went out on the stage. Let me just say, none of them knew the first thing about electric drums, but I knew exactly what they were doing. They were going out there to make sure my baby was okay.
And not just them. I had multiple friends text me while this was happening to give me so much support. It's amazing when they say, "It takes a village" how true that is. I am SO lucky to have these people in my village.
The super nice sound technician figured out in about 30 seconds that the drums had been turned off after the last act. He found the power switch and turned them back on to the cheers of everyone in the audience. The boys were finally going to get their chance. Their very own Adele moment (just to remind myself for when I read back on this in 10 years - Adele started over at the Grammy's this year. Google it, Amanda.)
Oh boy oh boy to they take their chance. They had that ENTIRE room singing along with them.
And while their performance was super impressive, I was more impressed with the resiliency AND flexibility of those two eight year olds. One of the principals, Andrea, got up after they were done and said, "They handled that better than most adults would in that situation." That made my heart swell.
Evan, you are a great little drummer, but you are an AMAZING little human. I am so proud of you for taking that disappointment of your drums not being on and not letting it affect your character. This year, you got a 'take 2', but also remember, we can choose to take a 'take 2' anytime we want. Something happens in your life that you don't like, take a deep breath and try again. Your village, which included everyone in your family, will always be there to support you and help you back up so you can shine.