My Piano Teacher

Tomorrow, I'm going to visit my former piano teacher. Seventeen years ago, going to her house for my 45 min lesson was more often than not, a chore. Yet I am really looking forward to seeing her tomorrow. In fact, I try to meet up with her each time that I am back in Brisbane.

Back in the 90s, I had my lessons in a room under her house. She has a Queenslander and had a little "room" built underneath for her to give her piano lessons. Let me say that it was a crappy room and I didn't particularly like her piano. Yet, I stuck with her for close to seven years. I finally stopped my lessons when I got my Associate Diploma. At that time, I just didn't want to practice anymore to attempt the Licentiate but am regretting that a little now.

Its a little fuzzy but I do remember liking her as a teacher and feeling that she did have my best interests in everything she planned. I say fuzzy because there were plenty of weeks of me not practicing enough and her getting annoyed. I wonder what she thought of me back then.

We didn't see each other for a few years after I finished. When we did meet up by accident (in a mall) things were so different. While I still had all the respect I had for her as I did when she was my teacher, that same teacher-student relationship was gone. She asked me to call her by her first name and she talked about all sorts of things with me. Like friends!

Now, when I visit, I get to go upstairs, to the main part of her house. She did join a Carmelite Monastery briefly and I have visited her there too. I was looking forward to visiting her there again this year but, she's out.

Although I'm here in Brisbane for months at a time, I usually only meet up with her once. I feel as if I should make more of an effort but its too late this year since we'll be leaving for Cairns soon. But then again, I might feel like we're friends but she might think I'm just being a nuisance. I guess it really doesn't matter as long as she knows that I visit because I care.