(This is part of a longer piece. Apologies for jumping right in!)
Towards the end of our séjour in France, the girls got to perform in the school musical. The show was called Rock of Ages and it was about the science of geology and the history of rock and roll.
If you’re wondering how those two things might come together on an elementary school stage, picture a group of 5- to 9-year-olds scream-singing I’M ON A HIGHWAY TO HELL while the 10-year-olds mime shovelling coal during the Industrial Revolution.
My mother was in the audience that night. And maybe now’s a good time to mention that she is a Good Christian Woman, who’d flown 4,000 miles to watch her grand-babies sing in their first school play. I don’t know what she was expecting, but it wasn’t this. The refrain seemed to be on a loop. By the end, the kids were red-faced and sweaty from jumping up and down and screaming HIGHWAY TO HELL over and over again, 22 times at the very least. The parents in the audience were also on their feet, clapping and pumping their fists.
And my mom just sat there, wide-eyed, shaking her head, saying what is happening?
Eventually, there was an intermission (which is French for smoke break) and everyone filed out of the auditorium to get some fresh air (and smoke). We stayed in our seats and tried to recover from the shock and hilarity of the first act.
Before I tell you about the second act, the finale, I should tell you this: in addition to being a Good Christian Woman, my mom is also a retired elementary school teacher. But to say it like that is an understatement. She would say that teaching children to read was her life’s calling. Her overarching goal was to instil a love of learning.
She also loves music, and she sings and plays the piano. All that to say - attending a school musical is her sweet spot. And the fact that her granddaughters were on the stage was the cherry on top. She was in heaven.
So she shrugged off Highway to Hell as a cultural misunderstanding. And she was beaming with pride as the curtain opened for the second act. Which was, I’m not even kidding, a lengthy and avant-garde version of We Don’t Need No Education, by Pink Floyd.
HEY TEACHER! LEAVE US KIDS ALONE!
The pictures of the girls... love love love
I love imagining the whole scene, Laurie, and your mom's confounded expectations. But my fave bit? "Eventually, there was an intermission (which is French for smoke break) and everyone filed out of the auditorium to get some fresh air (and smoke)." :)