A Violin for Lynnaea
Lynnaea’s violin arrived this afternoon. She knew that there was going to be a surprise for her when she got to our house, but she had no idea what it was until she actually opened it up. She was thrilled. She let out a little gasp, and her face totally lit up. Very cool! :)
She’s been very upset because her father hasn’t paid the rental fee for the violin she got through the school (she keeps asking if we have the money to pay it), and since he’s also refused to let her bring it over to our house, we figured (after finding a quality vendor
at a good price) that we might as well buy her one of her own, so she’d have something to practice on when she’s here.
We opened it up, looked over all the pieces (it came with a collapsible music stand too, and a case that can be worn like a backpack), put the bridge up, and tried tuning it with the pitch pipe. I used to play the violin, but I don’t recall how to tune one that’s been newly strung, so Gunilla and Lynnaea are over at our friend Susan Kesey’s (this was Lynnaea’s idea). Susan is a musician and a music teacher, and she loves the kids, so she’s a natural to get it all working.
Lynessa was a bit upset that Lynnaea received a surprise and she didn’t, but I’m sure Gunilla will make it up to her. From my perspective, it isn’t healthy for both of them to always expect to receive gifts and other things in conjunction - sometimes, one girl needs something, and the other doesn’t, and vice versa, but I guess that’s what they’ve been led to expect by both parents. In some ways, these two are almost like twins. That’s cute once in a while, but in the long term, they’re both going to be independent of each other (especially after next year, when they’re in different schools), so it shouldn’t be over-encouraged.
