Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Sad Thanksgiving Weekend

In the past, I have mentioned...in passing, sure...that I have been taking piano lessons with my daughter. I have wanted to learn how to play piano for decades now. And, having it be something that I do weekly with my marvelous daughter--watching her pick it up so much quicker than me, of course--made it all the more special. Our teacher was Dr. Sarah Stevens --the music teacher from my daughter's elementary school.

On top of all the gorgeous weather we had here in Bloomington over the Thanksgiving weekend...and a nice dinner at a friend's house...the weekend was smashed by the news that our piano teacher was dead.

My daughter was very sad by the news...as was I.
We found out the news on Friday afternoon.
Our lessons are typically on Saturday morning...which came and went...and we were sad. The electronic keyboard we borrowed from a friend still sits in our study. We haven't played much this week. As a dad, I don't know if or when to suggest we start lessons again.

Tomorrow my daughter will have music class at school for the first time since Dr. Stevens' death. It will be strange and sad for her, I'm sure.

And, on Friday, the school is having what they call a celebration of life in honor of Dr. Stevens. Calling it a celebration will, to me, not make it any less sad that such a wonderful person...who touched so many people with music...left us so unexpectedly.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I know of Sara as Dr. Estabrooke. She was my music instructor, as were many students, at Indiana University Elementary through my primary school days. I am currently living in Japan, teaching English, and from a friend just heard of this shocking news today.. It saddens me that such a glorious person, who made grudging school days light up, won't be able to touch the hearts of new youth to come. I remember, during lunch time, from the requests of us students, she would bring her keyboard to the stage among the lunch tables, and we would shout "X-men" and "Aladdin" and "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" and she would play the theme songs for us as we ate. Such a loving, caring person. I will always cherish that warm part of my childhood with Dr. Estabrooke.