Things are looking up for S

I was worried about S back in January.  The community college cancelled not one but two of his three classes he signed up for.  Not enough people signed up for Music Theory II on Saturdays.  S wanted to take that instead of continuing with the same prof he took during the week last semester.  He couldn't stand the guy who he said didn't actually teach anything, liked to joke in a crass and belittling way that fairly mortified S.  S got an A in the course but he taught himself everything.  He's already absolutely fascinated with all things having to do with music theory, so the class is just sort of a formal acknowledgement of his study of the subject.  The other class that got cancelled was his flute lessons.  S is self-taught on flute and has decided that is the instrument he will try to get into music schools with.  He's very intense about studying it.  The flute teacher however is pregnant with twins and couldn't teach the whole semester nor apparently was she allowed to get a sub according to her contract.  So anyway, we went to a local music store with a great reputation and found an excellent flute teacher there.  S really likes her.  She is correcting all his bad habits he developed.  She's also helping with sight reading.

Anyway, S did not have enough to do as the result of these cancellations.  He was looking for a job but wasn't very motivated and after a few strikes out, he seemed to give up entirely.  Then we decided maybe he could fill his time doing good volunteer work, so we began a hunt for that but that petered out too.  I was worried because S's depression often becomes painful around this time of year.   NOt having enough to do seemed fatal.   However, he's been on the thyroid meds and they are helping I think.  It is subtle but things aren't as bad as they have been the last couple of winters.  He is really excited about going to the Berklee 5 Week program this summer and I think being able to look forward to that is buoying him up too.

But the funny thing is that the community college accidentally didn't cancel S's applied music class. Instead somehow he got switched to clarinet instead of flute.  So we got a call last Friday from the head of the music department asking why S was not showing up for his clarinet lessons.  Well, to make a long story short we explained that S was focusing on flute and didn't want to take clarinet (actually he'd love to learn clarinet; he fools around enough on his father's!) because he was afraid he'd mess up his form and technique on flute.  So he wound up taking percussion instead.  He went to his first lesson yesterday and came home so happy.  He loved the teacher and he is truly excited about studying percussion.  He's always been fascinated by it anyway, it just wasn't his main fascination.

So good things going right now for him:

Looking forward to Berklee 5 week this summer
Looking forward to visiting his brother up in Boston over spring break
Liking his flute teacher
Having a goal of getting ready for auditions by December
Enjoying his English class at the community college - this teacher is great! Not like last semester.  Sean really loves to write and he's discovered he is good at it.
Excited about learning percussion formally

So his schedule now is like this:
Mondays - percussion
Prep for English class (and maybe Gov't)
Workout with trainer

Tuesdays
Prep for Gov't class
Gov't class
Do homework for English class (due on line on Tues evening)

Wednesdays
Driving lessons
Work out with trainer

Thursdays
Usually writing essay for English class
English class 4 - 5:15

Fridays
Free (we usually go to Mass at noon)

Saturdays
Flute
work out with trainer

Of course he also does Latin and Religion with me and B.  And he's practicing flute consistently, plus he spends lots of time fooling around on the piano, penny whistle, recorder, harmonica and ocarina,  watching music videos, listening to music, playing with Dylan, skyping with Will and other people, etc.

So things are going well right now for him.  Praise God!