Charlie's First Piano Recital

Charlie's first recital was pretty special. We arrived just in time for introductions, he had no idea what was going on. He watched four kids much older than him get up on stage and play advanced pieces; he started to catch on. When they called Charlie Kretz he walked up on stage slowly all by himself, stopped halfway up the stairs, looked back at us and decided to keep going. He went to the microphone like all the big kids in front of him and adjusted the microphone. He was on his tip toes when he said,  "My name is Charlie", then he paused. The instructor asked what he was going to play and he leaned into the mic and said "Ode to Joy". He then proceeded cautiously to the piano and put his sheet music up, he needed to stretch to reach. It was folded so he couldn't read it well. He peered into the darkness looking for Mom; she was already on her way up to the stage. Together with Mom pointing to the sheet music he played his first solo ever so gently. He was beautiful.