One of the good moments

Lots of good moments this first week of being at home with my kids for school. Not gonna lie - lots of hard moments, too - but we all expected that (or at least all us pessimists did). Favorite moment, though, hands down, was just yesterday: Friday. Not even a "school day" (we work Monday through Thursday). Bright and way too early in the morning, a woman named Sue appeared at my house to give Joseph his first piano lesson.

Sue wore a tad too much perfume for my sensitivities, but she was smiley and at ease and friendly as heck. I got her a chair, she pulled out her books, Joe had a seat on the bench and me and the girls observed from various locations around the living room. At one point, Sue was talking too much to me instead of Joe (in my opinion) so I left the room and busied myself with some kitchen chores.

As I went about my stuff, I took little looks in on the lesson from time to time. I might have been smiling ear to ear for all I know. You could say this piano lesson thing is a dream come true.

I'm no more musical than an armadillo. But I see the value and the beauty in music and therefore in knowing music. If you can make music... well, then, sheesh! -- you're something special. I wanted to learn piano as a child, but we didn't own a piano and Mom said it was too expensive. Fast forward more than two decades and when I came across a piano for fifty bucks I grabbed it. Now, three moves later and two tuning jobs paid for - my eight year-old started what I would have liked to when I was his age.

So... is that all this is? One of those vicarious things? Next thing I'll push Cayna into cheerleading and Bethanie into theater? I really don't think so. There definitely is the element of "I'm happy to give my kid something I never got," but other things on that list include a Lite Brite and a Sit-n-Spin - so there's not much meaning there.

Joseph giggled through parts of the lesson (Sue really is good) and enjoyed himself thoroughly. By the end he was playing a couple short little songs including masterpieces like "Old Mac Donald". I just felt thankful. We own a fifty-dollar piano. Kevin has a job that for right now allows us to pay for lessons to learn to play it. Joseph has the interest. The instructor is fabulous. The sun shines through our East-facing window on August Friday mornings. So there's the meaning in the piano lesson. A whole lot of little good things coming together to make a shining moment. Worth sharing.