I have had a great experience teaching piano again during my off times of playing concerts. In fact, the past few weeks have been quite eye opening. One of my students and her family has been dealing with a father that has been terminally ill for the past 4 years. She is in elementary school and took some lessons before she began taking lessons with me. Well, I met her father and he is a great man full of character. Over the past, the family has taken in numerous foster children, and some with devastating illnesses. One story that touched my heart was about one of the foster children. He had a disease where his skin wasn't necessarily attached to his body... it was easy to move and twist the skin by just a single, delicate touch. So, my student's father took this child in his arms on a pillow and walked with him outside on a virtually day to day basis as the sun was going down so this fragile child could experience nature to the fullest his body would allow. -There are so many reminders about how lucky most of us actually are, that is definitely one.
Well, a couple of weeks later my student's father became devastatingly ill. The weekend prior to the lesson, he had slipped into a coma. When the day of the lesson came about, my student brought me in to see him. He was having difficulty breathing and it was irradic. We then started the lesson. We worked on the "boring" theory for a bit and then on a beginners version of "Steal My Heart" that I am writing for her. Finally, the lesson was coming to a close and she wanted to hear me play. So, I played for her a song called "Never Forget" which relates the point of keeping your life cherishable.
"Never Forget" is basically about how our lives are filled with moments for us to cherish, reflect, and not take for granted. I'm sure I'll explain that song in much greater detail later... And as I finished the song, my student gave me a great big smile while her mother went to the back. I asked her what she would name the song, and she said "Flashes of Light" Her mother came back and I discussed to them what the song was all about. I could feel something in the air... it wasn't sad, it wasn't happy, it was an inmistakable energy that wasn't there before.
For, after I finished playing "Never Forget"... my student's father passed away. He went quietly and calmly. In fact, I was told that during the song he rolled over onto his back and began to breath more steadily. I'm sure when he heard his daughter's laugh, he could see her giant smile... and knew that it was his time to pass.
And that energy I felt: It was his legacy... his immortality seeping into his family (and maybe even a little into me) - where there is absolutely no question that he will always live through them.
Author: Chad Beall
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