Notes

Europe Trip. 2018. The best thing ever, right? Well, everyone says that. Not everyone means it as much as I do. I don't think I've ever wanted something so badly in my life before. It sounds completely selfish and spoiled, but it's true. Everything I've ever dreamed about is in this trip; meeting new people, traveling abroad, and most important of all, playing music for audiences. You don't understand how monumental this is. It's not just playing music for people in the community at concerts in the high school gym. It's playing music in front of audiences filled with different people in different places than I'm used to. I don't blame you for not understanding how I feel about this; we have almost nothing in common in this situation. You aren't a musician. You aren't a young person trying to get out into the world and explore the unknown. You just don't understand, and because of that, I can't go. I don't think it's very fair that just because you don't want to do something, your kids suddenly can't do it. I don't know how else I can show you that this is something extremely important to me. I'm asking you to consider letting us go. Yes, I know that there is a chance that something bad might happen. But no matter what you do in life, there's always a risk. I know you're just looking out for me and Richard, but we understand the risk. And we are willing to take it. The reward is greater than the risk.