What Goes Around Comes Around

I love kids. I don't really think that I could be a classroom teacher but I love to work with them one-on-one and help them develop their love for music. This year has been a great year for my "piano studio". I have had as many as 17 students and truth be told if I were asked if there was a kid that was my "favorite" I would be hard pressed to narrow it down to one. Likewise, if I were asked if there was a kid that I would rather not teach, I would have to say "no". I enjoy each and every one of them even the ones that are challenging or fail to practice as much as I would like.

This year was probably the best and the hardest recital that I have ever had. I have enough kids now (some that have been playing long enough that their songs are actually fairly long and complex) that my recitals actually last a significant amount of time. It's great to hear the progress that they have made over the years and it is even better to see them accomplish goals that they have started to set for themselves within their music rather than something I have told them that they need to do.

The recital this year was hard because I long to continue to be involved in their lives and I know that with my husband looking for a new call that means that this very well may be the last year that I teach these wonderful kids.

One mom doesn't refer to it as piano lessons, she refers to it as her child's special time with the lovely wife cause she knows her kids and I talk about more than just piano. I know about the 4-H chickens and which little chicks died and how they are getting bigger. I know about the sibling rivalries that go on in the home. Which kids feel that their parents "ditch" them because they are the oldest. I have kids that when they started taking lessons from me wouldn't talk to me but now I have to remind them that we need to get through lessons too. Then there are the ones who didn't want to come to lessons but when I told them that next week would be our last lesson they responded with "oh bummer" cause they actually have found that they like playing piano. Those half-hour lessons are special times for me as well. I am glad that each and every parent allows me to share in the life of these awesome kids.

I now know how the retiring teacher feels who gets all the parents wanting him/her to teach just one more year. Its a little bitter-sweet but it is great to be loved.