Live Life: To Have A Lot of Heart

   I've played the violin since I was six--and always had a lot more heart than talent. Just before turning sixteen, I learned that a very advanced orchestra had try-outs. They only accepted older teenagers and early twenty-year-olds, basically being a stepping stone to play in the larger state orchestras. I practiced for months, at least three hours every day and when the audition came and went, the conductor called me. "Why do you want to play in my orchestra?" she asked, shocking me with a personal phone call.
    "I can't imagine anything more amazing.  I've practiced for hours every day and since I'm younger and I might not be as good as some of the other people, I even prayed."
    She chuckled. "I'm not considering you because of your ability. It's because you have heart.  You'll work harder to learn what you need to--and you'll appreciate this more than most of the others. You're in."
    "You won't regret this!" I jumped up and down with the phone.  "I swear!" As part of the second violins, I got to play alongside the Utah Symphony and for The Nutcracker ballet. It was the experience of a lifetime. But more than that, the conductor's words never left me. 
   As I write novel after novel, or take my violin to play music with Cade at book signings, I remember how far "heart" can take people.

    It's amazing what dreams we can accomplish if we work hard and believe.

Cade and me playing:

 

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