One of my schools is in the process of upgrading a lot of our sound equipment. Being the music guy, that means I get to have a lot of new cool stuff to keep in my room and play with. And it also means I’ve been in the process of consulting, selecting, and finally purchasing said cool stuff.

Because said equipment is being purchased through donations from several of our school parents, we want them to see it in action as soon possible. We want them to hear how much better their kids sound, and see all the new cool things we can do for our performing arts program. (Plus, we just plain like it loud at that school, so we want to set it up and crank it as soon as possible). So before spring break began a few weeks ago, I was told the amount to spend, and basically told to hurry up and spend it.

Now I just need to mention here that in our school, the people who make financial decisions and raise money are pretty conservative. We are fortunate to be able to do a lot at that school, but the money people are also pretty darn careful. Which is as it should be. I have a set budget every year, which is enough to do what I need, but I can’t just run around willy-nilly, or even pell-mell, and buy whatever. Which is a challenge, because most musicians, myself included, would like nothing more than to run around willy-nilly as well as pell-mell and buy stuff.

So imagine the chill that went up my spine as I went into the office today, armed with quotes from the cool music store, to be greeted with these words: “I hope you’re here to tell me you’re about to spend a lot of money!”

I’ve waited my whole life to hear that sentence.