Harpin' on the Harpist

7:26 a.m. CST: "Good morning, Amanda ... Yesterday at AWANA we talked about David playing the harp, and I was very surprised to hear that Abigail is learning to play the harp. What I was wondering is could she bring it in two weeks when we resume our session, as we will have part two of the story of David? She said it was relatively small in size. Did I understand her correctly?"

Imagine my surprise when I received this text en route to school this morning. Actually, I was blown away by the gut-busting laughter that I found I couldn't control.

My Abby? A h-h-harpist?

At the red light I craned my head toward the backseat.

"Abby, did you tell your teacher you could play the harp?"

"Uh-huh," she happily nodded. "Watch." And with that she started playing the air harp [do people play the air harp?!?], her fingers delicately, yet furiously, plucking the imaginary strings. It was actually quite good. "I just feel the music and my fingers start wiggling - I can't control them."

Wait. What? Again, trying hard to contain the laughter but hopelessly failing, I asked, "Did you tell her you had a harp?"

"Yes. I said it was about this big." She held her hands about 8 inches apart. No wonder the teacher said it was relatively small. I wondered if they made harps that size. I began to speculate that Abby must have been quite convincing because, even with me, she spoke seriously.

Trying not to get caught up in the tall tale, I told Abby that her teacher wanted her to bring her "harp" to their next AWANA meeting. Abby's face fell, and she grew quite concerned.

"Just tell her I can't bring it," she said flatly.

Not about to perpetuate this mounting lie, I said, "No! I'm not going to tell her that. You don't even have a harp!"

"Well, can't you buy me one?"

"No! Besides, you don't even know how to play it!"

"Well, you could send me to lessons."

Good grief. A conversation about lying ensued, and I think she finally realized that the truth eventually comes out, even for those pesky, seemingly benign white lies.

The underlying issue was that she was embarrassed about all the other kids in the class being able to play an instrument. Poor thing felt compelled - I reckon - to choose something that she played ... but a harp? Mercy.

I politely explained the truth to her teacher, who was very gracious and very amused.

A harpist. Who knows. Maybe one day, huh?

I'll be darned. They do make mini harps.