Never Judge an Instrument by It's School Issued Case

Here in Lexington, you get to take orchestra in the fourth grade. Miller has been so excited to start and decided he wanted to play the VIOLA. We were also thrilled he was going to be able to rent an instrument from the school for $25 a year instead of having to rent one from the music store for $25 a month. Unfortunately, on the day they issued the instruments, Miller was sick. He was anxious to go back to school two days later so he could finally get his VIOLA and start practicing. This is the conversation that took place on our walk home that day from the bus stop:

Miller: Mom....Look at my viola case. It was the only viola they had left and it has a busted lock and all of this tape on it to hold it together.

Mom: Wow....I see that. Oh well, I guess that's what happens when you're sick the day they hand out the school instruments.

Miller: You should see what the viola looks like....

Mom: Oh, I can imagine. I'm sure it looks like C-R-A-P!

Miller: (doesn't say a word)

Mom: Well, I don't know how he's going to do it, but when your dad takes a look at that beat-up instrument, the first thing he's going to do is march straight down to the music store and rent you a good viola.

Miller: Probably!

Here's what he brought home....

Notice the "busted" latch....

When Miller got in the house, he sat the viola case on the chair and called me in. He said, "Come and look at my viola..." Expecting to see the worst piece of junk I had ever seen, already feeling guilty that my children have to learn to play music on the school's used and beat-up instruments because we are in "Thrift or Bust" mode, I walked over and took a peek at what was inside.....and to my surprise....

....it was a beautiful, perfect little viola.

I guess none of the kids picked it because the case was so beat-up but Miller could not be happier and I was, again, reminded of how important it is not to judge an instrument by it's school issued case.