[SoftballMominVA]

My daughter is the uber-nerd - valedicatorian of her class - but is also a band geek, a jock, a musician, a theater kid, and a volunteer. She has found it very easy to slip in and out of groups. And yes, she did all the extra things because she didn’t want to be defined by her ‘nerd-ish-ness’ but by her whole self.

[Myrddin]

Being a "band geek" is yet another social "hobble". I valued sitting first seat in the trumpet section over any loss of social standing. Last weekend I stopped by Chesbro's music to get a clean copy of A Trumpeter's Lullaby. The only copy I had was a faded mimeograph given to me by the band teacher in 6th grade.

My #2 son plays trumpet as well. He only finished with a 4.33 GPA. His girlfriend was the valedictorian with a 4.86 GPA. My son wrote the valedictorian speech as he was better at writing prose of that variety. He's a former Marine and CA real estate broker now.