During my masters, I was lucky enough to get a job at a music academy teaching lessons where the owners did everything else - the scheduling, the payments, it was a suweet deal for me.  The downside was they scheduled me within an inch of my life - try a Saturday of 8 hours of students without a potty break. 

After a few hours, every student, from 2 years old to 60, started to look and sound the same. 

One student though - whew.  In walks this gorgous young couple fresh from New York (along with the accent!) and their tiny toddler in a stroller.  At first I was confused as to which one of them would be my student - it turned out to be the mom.  Her husband was already a musician, and they wanted their son to have the full-on Suzuki experience, complete with the mother learning the violin in advance and the child coming to lessons, observing, and then the mom can teach and play wtih them at home when the kid does start.  Doesn’t that give you goosebumps??  I’ve only seen 3 parents do it in all my teaching and it blows me away every time.

They were the nicest little family, so happy and positive that of course, it makes you (okay, me) think how come they have it so good?  Why is it sooo tough on my end?  Yeah, I’m a sad sack.  Violin is not an easy thing for an adult to learn and she was no exception, but it was so obvious how much she loved her son and how excited she was to share it with him.  And the way her husband looked at her… wow.  It would have been annoying in my perpetualy dumped state had it not been so blasted genuine.

I continued my “woe is me, why do they have it so good” attitude until one day when I remarked on a necklace she wore with the picture of a man on it.  She told me it was in memory of her father who had been killed in the World Trade Center on 9-11. 

The look in her eyes was so pained.  And still there was so much love there.  It was one of those moments that you can actually hear the train tracks in your brain switch directions.  The sad sack thoughts gone - I thought “Wow - if they can go through that and have that much positivity and love seeping out of their skin - I want to try to be like that.” 

Lucky for me, they found me on Facebook, and incredibly, they are even happier.  They honor her father by living a life he would be proud of.  So every 9-11, I think of that family.  And I want to be better.